Tag: Entrepreneurship

Categories
Spotlight

Shirin Sharif

IPN Spotlight: Shirin Sharif (VP of Supply at Honor)

Shirin is currently the Vice President of Supply for series-C startup Honor, a home care business based in San Francisco. In this role, she manages a team of 20 recruiting, training, marketing, and HR specialists who are responsible for hiring, onboarding and retaining 1,000+ caregivers to care for seniors.
Previously, she was employed for five years at LinkedIn as their Director of the $1.2B North America LTS business. At LinkedIn, she directly managed a team of more than 20 talented sales operating managers and individual contributors. Initially, she began her career at The Boston Consulting Group. She holds a Master’s in Business from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors in Business Administration in Public Policy from Stanford University.

What skills have helped you in your career?
I started my career in consulting, which served as a good foundation for building my analytical and problem-solving skills. My ability to plan and manage operations in addition to these two skills have been integral in my career.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
I think stressing out about not having everything figured out when I graduated from my bachelors and during my MBA was daunting. If I had to do it all over again, I would not worry as much about being uncertain because eventually, my experiences allowed me to find a match between market needs and my skills which lead to my career calling.

What is next for you in your career?
I recently switched my career from SaaS technology into healthcare startups so no changes expected anytime soon. Eventually I would like to be a COO.

What advice would you offer to others?
Look for that intersection between what you are good at and what the market values to establish your career niche.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Network introductions
• Resume review
• Career advice
• Interview prep

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shirin Sharif

Please provide your preferred email address so interested professionals can network with you:
[email protected]

Region:
West

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Shelmina Abji

IPN Spotlight: Shelmina Abji (Empowerment Speaker at Shelmina Abji Consulting and Advisory Board Member at United Nations Foundation- Girl Up)

Shelmina Abji was born in Tanzania and was the first person in her family to obtain a college degree. She is a global empowerment speaker, a former IBM Vice President, a Distinguished Alumni, a Board member and an angel investor. She rose up to become one of the highest-ranking women of color at IBM by delivering superior business results consistently for 20+ years while being a single mother of two children since they were 2 and 4. She has led hardware, software and services businesses and has delivered over 1Billion USD in annual revenues. She has hired over 1,000 individuals during her career. She has had the privilege of participating in meetings at our state capital and the White House to increase women in STEM.
Abji holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She also has a Bachelor of Science Mathematics from University of Poona India. As IBM’s top talent, she received extensive leadership training at IBM, Harvard and UCLA. Presently, she is an advisory board member at United Nations Foundation Girl Up and TiE-Seattle where she leads the women’s entrepreneurship chapter. In November 2018, Shelmina will be honored for her trailblazing work as a female leader in technology and women’s empowerment by the Harvard Undergraduate Women in Business at their Young Women’s Business Leadership Conference (YWBLC).

What skills have helped you in your career?
• My ability to earn the trust, confidence of and create a win-win for all stakeholders
• My ability to prioritize what’s most important and focusing to deliver on all metrics while not getting distracted by urgent fires coming from multiple sources
• My complete trust in myself to overcome any and all challenges without getting overwhelmed
• My ability to build people up, recognizing their strengths and placing them in the right position to achieve a desired outcome

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Being on board of TiE, an angel investor in individual companies as well as part of a fund, I get to interact with and learn from many entrepreneurs and other angel investors as well as venture capitalists. I am also an avid reader and love to travel which provides a constant source of learning.

What is next for you in your career?
Over the years, I have witnessed profound positive changes in the girls and women I have had the fortune to work with. After receiving multiple requests, I have decided to share my insights and accelerate the strengths of others by writing a book on empowerment.

What advice would you offer to others?
• Define what success means to you (personal and professional) and ensure all your choices of action are taking you towards that definition. Do not get distracted by noise. Course correct and redefine as necessary
• Become self-aware. Understand what your strengths and weaknesses are so you can lead with your strengths amplify them and neutralize your weaknesses
• Constantly add value in all your interactions
• Continually build new relevant competencies
• Do your personal best under all circumstances

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• Be a keynote speaker at events where I can share my insights for personal and professional success
• Lead workshops on various topics as found on my website
• Participate on panels on various topics from leadership to entrepreneurship to work life balance
• Lead round table discussions

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Shelmina Abji

Please provide your preferred email address so interested professionals can network with you:
www.shelmina.com

Region:
West

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Spotlight

Laila Bandali

IPN Spotlight: Laila Bandali (President at Ivy Kids Early Learning Centers)

Laila is President and Founder of Ivy Kids Early Learning Centers (ELC). She has over 15 years of experience in developing Early Childhood Education (ECD) curriculum, management systems, operational policies and procedures. To date Laila has managed teams that have started up eight child care centers in the state of Texas. Prior to Ivy Kids ELC, she has over 25 years of experience as a Chemical Engineer in the Oil and Gas Industry.

What skills have helped you in your career?
My education and work experience as a Chemical Engineer helped me in designing systems, processes and evaluation methods. My MBA and work experience in refining economics and marketing taught me financial discipline, how to evaluate financial statements and manage the business side. I also had great mentors who inspired me to become an entrepreneur.

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
Be more data driven, by that I mean use data analytics more to drive your decisions rather than using gut feeling. I have a tendency to jump to conclusions when making decisions based on what seems like the right thing to do.

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Currently my focus is on Early Childhood Education (ECD) curriculum. I attend as many professional conferences as I can on this subject matter. I spend a lot of time with experts in ECD to increase my curriculum knowledge. I read at least two articles every day. I train and lead curriculum workshops to solidify my knowledge base (in short, I am obsessed with developing my skill set).

What is next for you in your career?
I would like to take our systems at Ivy Kids and build a solid franchising business. My hope is that we can inspire others to become independent entrepreneurs and experience the joy and success of running a school. I would also like to take our model to third world countries where there is a severe lack of quality Early Childhood Development (ECD).

What advice would you offer to others?
Don’t let fear of the unknown stop you from venturing out. I truly believe that taking calculated risks is better than inaction. My advice would be to find a good mentor, trust your mentor and let them guide you through your journey (but begin your journey – don’t wait).

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
I can help professionals with their business plans, evaluate business options within the ECD space, motivate people to take action, and help with recruitment and hiring.

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Laila Bandali

Region:
Southwest

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Uncategorized

Shahzil Amin – Alliance Lead – Entrepreneurship Venture Alliance

Name: Shahzil Amin

Title: Alliance Lead, Entrepreneurship Venture Alliance

Managing Partner at Karlani Capital

Bio: Shahzil is the managing partner at Karlani Capital. He started Blue Track Media, a mobile performance and programmatic ad-buying platform right out of high school. In 2014, Blue Track Media was acquired by Karlani Capital. In his free time, Shaz serves as Venture Advisor and CometX teacher at the University of Texas at Dallas. He considers himself an entrepreneur first, investor second.

Categories
Event

IPN and IHPA : Webinar on Saturday, March 10th 2018 – CRISPR the Next Multi-Billion $ Market

IPN and IHPA are pleased to host a webinar on CRISPR – the ground-breaking gene-editing technology that will revolutionize health, medicine, and touch virtually every segment across the economy.

The webinar – designed and led by experts in Genetics, Technology, and Economics – will quickly bring the highlights of this technology to you and provide a glimpse of the future with a “crisp” eye toward potential careers and economic opportunities – projected to be a multi-billion dollar market worldwide.

The webinar will be held on Saturday, March 10th 2018 at 1pm ET.
Click Here to register!

Presenter:
Dr. Rob Mitra, Ph.D. is Professor of Genetics at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, MO. Dr. Mitra’s lab remains focused on this technology and has developed several front-end methods such as pooled-sample sequencing and Nested-Patch PCR. In addition, Dr. Mitra serves as Director of the Washington University Genomic Technology Access Center (GTAC), which provides next generation sequencing and analysis to the Washington University.

Moderator:
Karim Budhwani has been CEO of Elixir International, a technology and management firm in Birmingham, AL, for more than 20 years. He also serves as a Visiting Scientist at Coe College with research focusing on the intersections of materials science, nanotechnology, and biomedical sciences.

Categories
Event

IPN Speaker Series : Dallas, TX on Saturday, February 10th 2018 – Entrepreneurship : Is it in You?

Entrepreneurship: Is it in you? IPN Presents – Rudy Karsan

Please Join us for a fireside chat and lunch with Rudy Karsan, moderated by Salman Dhanani.

At this 2018 IPN Speaker Series event, Rudy will provide attendees with an inside look into his entrepreneurial journey and share invaluable career advice.

Rudy Karsan is most well-known for founding Kenexa, a leading SaaS-based provider of human capital management software that Rudy and a team of talented executives took public in 2005 and sold to IBM in 2012 for $1.3 billion. A self-confessed geek, Rudy is inspired by out-of-the-box technology that is in sync with his constant endeavor to help make people’s lives better in some way.
He possesses the rare combination of a strong background in actuarial science with the ability to dream big, which has paved the way for his success as an entrepreneur. Together, these paved the way for his new venture, Karlani Capital, an operating fund that aims to “enable the growth and success of ideas that are original, interesting and potentially useful to people.”

DATE AND TIME:
Sat, February 10, 2018
10:00 AM – 2:00 PM CST

LOCATION:
Serendipity Labs Dallas
2323 Ross Avenue
Dallas, TX 75201

Click Here for further details!

Categories
Event

IPN Roundtable Discussion : Phoenix, AZ on Friday, February 9th 2018 – A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West Invites You to the Phoenix Roundtable Discussion- A Focus on Disruptive Technologies

IPN West invites you to learn more about IPN’s programs and services. The IPN West team will share insights on the organization’s objectives as well as how you can leverage the network to advance your career, collaborate on new opportunities and contribute to the Ismaili professionals’ community.

As part of the session, IPN will also host a roundtable on emerging trends within technology, including cryptocurrency and blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, machine learning and robotics automation. As technology disrupts our lives at a rapid pace, we must embrace change to maintain leadership in our respective fields as well as identify opportunities for economic and professional growth.

Date: Friday, February 9th, 2018 after Jamat Khana ceremonies

Location: Held in Phoenix, AZ Jamat Khana

Host: Akbar Jaffer, IPN West Honorary Secretary. Akbar is a product strategist and a marketing technologist with over 20 years of industry experience. He currently serves as the Chief Marketing Officer of ZorroSign, Inc., Founding Chairman of the Silicon Valley chapter of the Internet Marketing Association and an author of PointofIntersection.org, a blog about Technology and Humanities.

Food and refreshments will be provided.

Categories
Event

AICC Members : Conference Call on Wednesday, October 18th 2017 – Understanding The Venture Capital Ecosysteme

The American Ismaili Chamber of Commerce (AICC) has scheduled a Member Conference call focused on learning about the venture capital (VC) landscape that has helped seed multi-billion dollar global companies, including Facebook, Uber, Airbnb, and many others.

Dial in to discover:
How have companies like Uber, Airbnb, and Snap gone from idea stage to global success?
How are these companies founded? Who are the people who finance them?
How does the venture capital ecosystem work behind the scenes to seeds and support startups?

Fast Facts:
What: MCC: Understanding the Venture Capital ecosystem
Who: AICC members and stakeholders
When: Wednesday, Oct 18th, 2017
Time: 9:00 pm Central (7:00 pm PT/ 10:00 pm ET)
Speaker: Arif Janmohamed, at Lightspeed Venture Partners

Please register by clicking Here.

Following registration, you will be sent a confirmation email with bridge details for the conference call.

Presenter Bio:
Arif joined Lightspeed in 2008 and focuses primarily on investments in the areas of cloud and data center technologies, as well as enterprise mobile and SaaS solutions. Arif is currently working closely with the teams at Avi Networks, Blend Labs, Highfive, Mist Systems, Netskope, Nutanix, Qubole, Takipi, TripActions, and ThoughtSpot. He was also involved in several Lightspeed investments which have had successful exits including Edge spring (acquired by Salesforce.com), Pertino Networks (acquired by Cradle point), IO Turbine (acquired by Fusion-ion), RAPsphere (acquired by AppSense), Memoir Systems (acquired by Cisco), and StreamOnce (acquired by Jive Software).
Prior to joining Lightspeed, Arif worked in the Corporate Business Development group at Cisco Systems where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, strategy, and investments in the Unified Communications, Enterprise Collaboration, Mobile, and SaaS market segments. Before joining Cisco Systems, he was with Novitas Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm.
Earlier in his career, Arif worked in technical development and product management roles at WebTV (acquired by MSFT), Andes Networks (acquired by SUNW) and Sun Microsystems.

Arif is a Charter Member and member of the Organizing Committee for the C100, a non-profit, member-driven organization that supports Canadian technology entrepreneurship through mentorship, partnership, and investment. He also founded WVP Ventures, a student-run venture capital fund, while in business school.
Arif holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a BSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Canada.

For any questions please email: [email protected]

AICC Disclaimer:
AICC Member Conference Calls are intended to be an opportunity to exchange ideas for educational purposes. Calls may include opinions, advice, statements, materials, presentations, and other information (collectively, “Materials”) expressed or otherwise shared by presenters whom AICC has invited to participate, These Materials do not constitute investment advice and are for information purposes only. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in any presentation or in any Materials are those solely of the presenter and not of AICC. Further, AICC does not endorse or recommend any presenter, promoter, strategy, company, or any views mentioned during the presentation or in the Materials.

Categories
Spotlight

Faheen Allibhoy

IPN Spotlight: Faheen Allibhoy (Principal Investment Officer at International Finance Corporation)

Faheen Allibhoy is IFC’s Regional Representative for Sénégal, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau and Mauritania based in Dakar. She is responsible for coordinating IFC’s investment and advisory operations in these countries and managing the operations of the IFC Dakar Office, which is the hub for West and Central Africa. Before this position, she worked directly with the CEO of IFC’s Asset Management Company with respect to strategic efforts and the financing for development agenda. Prior, she was the sector team lead for IFC’s investments in the renewable energy supply chain, having worked on important transactions with large solar and wind companies such as SunPower, Gamesa and Goldwind. In her 15-year tenure at IFC, she has worked with the Manufacturing and Infrastructure departments. Prior to IFC, Ms. Allibhoy worked at Merrill Lynch in New York in the Investment Banking Division. Ms. Allibhoy holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She is on the Executive Committee of the Harvard Business School Alumni Board and a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

What skills have helped you in your career?
• Finance
• Business
• People management

What do you wish you had known or done differently throughout your career?
To be more of a risk-taker and to have veered off the “linear path” from time to time. To take the time to build skills (e.g. business level fluency in a language).

What do you do for continuing education and improvement?
Management and leadership skills, language skills

What is next for you in your career?
A leadership role in a global organization.

What advice would you offer to others?
Be ambitious, stay ambitious.

Areas where you can help other Ismailis:
• MBA applications
• International finance
• General management

Please provide the link to your LinkedIn profile:
Faheen Allibhoy

If you would like to nominate someone to be a part of the spotlight, click Here.

Categories
Event

IPN Entrepreneurship Summit : Dallas, TX on Saturday, May 20th 2017

Do you have entrepreneurial aspirations? Would you like to take your existing business to the next level?

Whether you are a college student, professional (in any industry), existing entrepreneur, or investor – the IPN Entrepreneurship Summit has something for you. You will make new connections, hear from other entrepreneurs on their journeys, and get connected to the Dallas Entrepreneurial eco-system.
We have entrepreneurial speakers from all stages of their business journey – some of our speakers will be Ismailis while others will be from outside the community.

Meet someone who has invented a new fitness product and is taking it to market now. Meet an entrepreneur who has grown his business to 24+ retail locations in luxury professional service business. Meet an entrepreneur who has successful existed from his business and is now an investor. Meet a super-star entrepreneur from our community – Rahim Charania will be our keynote address and is traveling in from Atlanta just for this event!

You don’t want to miss the IPN Entrepreneurship Summit, which will be held on Saturday May 20th, 2017 from 9am-6pm in Dallas. There will be an optional dinner networking program at nearby restaurant.

To learn more about the Summit click Here!

Tickets Types: –
– Event ticket (9am-6pm) – $25/person
– Event ticket (9am-6pm + Dinner networking function in the evening) – $50/person