Mike Isaac posted: "Natch, the big winners of the week are Jan Koum, Brian Acton and the 50-odd employees that make up WhatsApp, the mobile messaging application that just sold to Facebook for more than $16 billion. Note, however, the other big winner in the deal: Seq"
|
Friday, February 21, 2014
Inspiring techno-entreprenuers
In light of Seek's acquisition of Jobstreet - well done Mark, keep the Malaysian spirit of innovation high, here's another inspiring pathbreaker. Key point that jumps out - people need to be eternal optimists - Nouman Ali Khan clearly emphasized this in many of his talks which I have heard so far.
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/wordpress/know/2010/05/13/amar_sawhney_alumni/
Kathleen Mabley
Published: May 13, 2010
http://www.utexas.edu/opa/wordpress/know/2010/05/13/amar_sawhney_alumni/
Amar Sawhney: Blessings in disguise
By Kathleen MableyKathleen Mabley
Published: May 13, 2010
Amar Sawhney (Ph.D. chemical engineering, '92) applied for more than 30 jobs before deciding to continue his education and obtain his Ph.D.
When Amar Sawhney (Ph.D. chemical engineering, ’92) arrived in Austin to pursue his graduate degree, he had $500 in cash that came from the sale of his mother’s jewelry and two suitcases — the most he could bring from India. He didn’t know anyone, didn’t have a place to live and wasn’t selected to work on any of the graduate projects he applied for.
Today, he is co-founder of a medical device incubator, has started six successful companies throughout his career and has a foundation for his philanthropic work supporting education, the environment and children, particularly in India.
Sawhney has faced many crossroads in his life where the tried and tested path was not available to him.
“People tend to be either optimists or pessimists,” he said. “You have to be an optimist. Even if life gives you what might seem at that time an unfair hand, sometimes it’s a blessing in disguise.”
Sawhney’s first blessing in disguise came in the form of a young professor, Dr. Jeff Hubbell, who was working on innovative approaches to biomaterial and took Sawhney on as one of his students.
“After finishing my master’s, I applied for about 30 different job opportunities and 29 summarily denied me because I didn’t have a green card,” he said. “Eastman Kodak gave me an interview, but I think they messed up and didn’t read my application. It was devastating. I didn’t know what to do — should I go back to India? I couldn’t get a job.”
Then came a second blessing in disguise.
“My adviser said, ‘You are a half-decent researcher, why don’t you stick around and work on a Ph.D.?’ That was one of the most seminal moments of my life — the seminal step that took me down the path of entrepreneurship. It came about entirely by accident. I could very well have gone with my tail between my legs back to India.”
Working with his adviser and a postdoctoral fellow, the team developed a technology that enabled them, for the first time ever, to use light-activation to perform chemistry in contact with living tissue without killing the tissue — a process critical for tissue repair.
Some venture capitalists approached Sawhney’s adviser to start a company in Boston and once again, Sahwney found himself at a crossroads. Without a plan for after graduation, he created a job for himself, becoming the company’s first employee. Since that time, Sawhney has started six companies and is co-founder of Incept, an incubator for new companies.
“I had to create my own jobs and opportunities,” Sawhney said. “On one hand you could see that as a disadvantage. On the other hand you could see that as a blessing because it helps you be an entrepreneur. If it doesn’t exist, you just have to go make it.
“If I had gotten a job, it probably wouldn’t have had the same impact that I’ve been able to have now. Each of us tend to get comfortable where we are. Sometimes you have to be uncomfortable to be able to do more significant things. I’m glad adversity was thrown at me, because if life had been easy, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do most of the things that I’m doing now.”
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
From the Guardian: The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?
Flinders thought you might be interested in this link from the Guardian: The world's wealthy: where on earth are the richest 1%?
A new report from Credit Suisse is not your usual 'rich list'. Amid a record high for average global wealth its figures reveal striking inequalities – such as 35% of Russia's riches in the hands of 110 people
Mona ChalabiWednesday 9 October 2013
theguardian.com
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/09/worlds-wealthy-where-russia-rich-list
----
Despite the continuing problems in the global economy, the ultra-rich have helped to push up average wealth in the world to an all-time high of US$51,600 per adult (£32,399). But what do those averages hide?
The data, published in a new report by Credit Suisse, also reveals the countries that have seen the biggest rises in wealth, and which are likely to in the future. Here are some of the main findings:
The wealthiest 32m people own more than the poorest 4.3bn put together
The idea of the world's wealthy 1% is still a powerful one – and graphics like the pyramid below demonstrate that stark contrast between the few and the many.
32m individuals (just 0.7% of the world's population) together hold US$98.7tn (or £62,000,0000,000,000, which represents 41% of global wealth).
At the other extreme, there are 3.2bn individuals at the bottom of the pyramid. Together they have 3% of global riches, despite representing 68.7% of the world population. But it might be surprising how little wealth an individual has to have to get out of that bottom tier and in with the top 33% of the world's population: US$10,000 is sufficient.
110 rich Russians
With just 110 individuals holding 35% of the country's riches, Russia has the highest level of wealth inequality in the world (with the exception of some small Caribbean nations that have resident billionaires). There's a stark contrast between that and the world average, where billionaires hold around 1-2% of wealth.
Globally, for every US$170bn in household wealth there is on average 1 billionaire. In Russia, there is just US$11bn in household wealth for every billionaire in the country.
Wealth can be fleeting
Fortunes can go down as well as up. Using the Forbes rich list, Credit Suisse caught up with individuals that had been classified as billionaires as far back as 2001, to see how many were still among the super-rich by 2013.
The financial crisis did very little to chance a consistent trend. In the first year after making it to the list of the top 100, around 33 individuals dropped out. By the time a decade had passed, more than 60 billionaires of the top 100 lost their status.
Europeans can lose wealth easier than Africans
The blues on the right-hand side of this graph show people who have increased their wealth over thirty years; the lighter the blue, the bigger the jump in wealth. The oranges and yellows on the other side indicate people who have slid down the wealth scale in their respective countries.
Globally, the graphic shows that on average almost half of individuals do not significantly change their wealth status over the course of their lifetimes, and change is the least likely in Africa. So you have more chance of losing wealth if you live in Europe than in Africa. But at the other extreme, there's also a much bigger chance individuals in Europe will move up the wealth scale too.
China has the world's highest level of wealth mobility. Almost 75% of the country has seen their wealth rise significantly in the past three decades.
By 2018, Poland will have seen the biggest rise in billionaires
But how will wealth change in the future? Credit Suisse predicts the number of millionaires for various countries by 2018. Globally, there will be a 50% rise in the number of millionaires in the next five years. Although the US will continue to top the list with the highest number of millionaires, in terms of percentage change, Poland's population will experience the biggest leap – with 89% more billionaires in 2018 than it had in 2013.
Libya has seen the biggest growth in household wealth
If the past year is anything to go by, individuals in any country can see their wealth radically change as a result of sometimes unexpected national events. In Libya, household wealth leapt by more than 60% between 2012 and 2013 while households in Egypt saw their wealth fall by over 10%.
Here's what wealth looks like today, click here to read the report and see the full-size images.
Get the numbers and get involved
• Download the full spreadsheet
• Contact us at data@theguardian.com
• Follow us on Twitter
• Like us on Facebook
• Get the A-Z of data
Mona Chalabi is teaching a Masterclass, Mastering spreadsheets: how to work with data, at the Guardian's London offices on 26-27 October. Learn more and book
If you have any questions about this email, please contact the theguardian.com user help desk: userhelp@theguardian.com.
theguardian.com Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2013 Registered in England and Wales No. 908396 Registered office: PO Box 68164, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1P 2AP
Monday, September 30, 2013
The measure of a man, the art of living..
- Had a good navel-gazing discussion yesteday in Adam Said's leadership modeling workshop, the likes of which I have not had the chance to fully absorb given the time constraints for the past 2 years. Application of the model to myself shows major gaps in Purpose: doing things beyond self, (or perhaps only family), the need to properly allow the purpose to drive the Charisma, Personal: lack of integrity and internal compass and also lack of tenacity, particularly realising that when things are not going well I should be truthseeking and guided by my personal conscience. And in the last 5 years, I have not had the need to test the interpersonal, building conviction and influence over others, as the internals have not had the need to build it up.
- In addition, the discrepancy, the derailing between internals and what should be done is all-consuming and makes the stresses to heavy to carry.
- But the internals has to be sorted out first. To catch the big fish, we need to go to the deeper oceans. To do that, need to make sure the boat is ready and I am confident to commandeer and command the boat. To paraphrase Adam, To build the boat requires confidence and self-belief. Requires passion and clarity of thought and pathway to lead others into the future.
- If I didn't like selling before, even selling of pretty good ideas - things will stay the same as we go on - unless I take steps to radically overthrow the existing mentality.
- As things go, there are strategic alternatives. And I will need to mentally process all of it before deciding, making sure there are no regrets and that this important decision has been given all possible attention before the next course of action is taken.
Friday, September 27, 2013
WordPress.com
Monday, September 23, 2013
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)