INTERVIEW/ PROFILEm o n D AY 0 8 F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 6

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Women executives are more resilientKarla Martin, former Director of Global Business Strategy at Google, is one of the prominent advocates ofwomen’s representation in leadership

ritika sharma / EMiratEs BusinEss

An executive strategist and busi-ness advisor, with an exem-plary track record of helping

scores of CEOs while taking the mostsignificant strategic and operating de-cisions of their lifetime, Karla Martinholds the credit of transforming strat-egy planning into a full-bodied indus-try in the corporate world.

As an expert in strategy develop-ment, omni-channel retail, e-com-merce expansion, retail, marketingand innovation, Martin is best-known for her role as Director, GlobalBusiness Strategy and Strategic Plan-ning at Google, where she helped thetechnology giant to reach unpreced-nted heights.

Possessing a knack of helpingbusiness leaders manage their com-panies through different stages ofgrowth and business cycles, she isknown for her wise understanding ofissues affecting any business likehuman resource, key decision-mak-ing processes, organisation struc-tures, market development anddrafting business plans to drive prof-itable growth. A Havard university-alum, Martin has helped manycompanies to come out of crisis situ-ations by formulating foolproofstrategies and executing impeccablebusiness plans leading to profitablegrowth and shareholder value cre-ation.

Martin was one of the key speak-ers at the recently-held ‘World Strat-egy Summit’, which was beingorganised under the patronage of HHSheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan,Deputy Prime Minister and Ministerof Interior, UAE, in Emirates capitalAbu Dhabi.

She talked about the benefits ofhaving more number of ‘women lead-ers’ and ‘female strategic thinkers’ inthe workforce, on the sidelines of‘World Strategy Summit’ while havingan exclusive conversation withEmi-rates Business.

Excerpts from the interview

What are your views about eventslike World strategy Summit? Thehall is jam-packed and we haverenowned names in the industrysharing their insights, but howhelpful is this going to be when it comes to ground-levelwork?

Basically, these events try to facil-itate a healthy conversation. We have

a group called ‘Strategy 50’ in the US wherein we

try to make one-on-one conversa-tions possible in a very easy and co-herent manner. You know in suchevents, the lessons learnt and the sto-ries told are always priceless. Youcannot get them anywhere on thisearth that easily.

People take entre lifetime to learnon their own. While such events arean exchange-of-idea platforms whereyou learn profitably from others’ experiences.

Also, it is a good way of finding so-lutions to your business problems.We all have various types of problemsin business or in our work, but it is

also a fact that problems across theglobe are somehat similar and onlythe way of solving them differs.

Therefore, it is only about know-ing how people in different corners ofthe world tackle their problems andthen deciding up on the right solutions that best suit your requirements. To sum up, these arethe perfect networking events.

We are in a world which is facing alot of problems, we have unstablegeopolitical scenario, too much oftechnology interference and aflood of information inflow. Howdo you think strategy can play arole in making the situation bet-ter?

Strategy is the biggest tool tomake the situation better and I thinkmajority of successful companies areharnessing it really well. They don’tview this place just as a market to selltheir products but they take a com-prehensive consideration and effec-tive strategies are helping them totake care of various extrinsic factors.

While doing this, most companiesare trying to do things where they cangive back to the community.

Strategy is a concept which has al-ways been there. Do you see anydifference in the way we view andexecute this term in last two-threedecades?

Strategy as a concept is still thesame, at its core aim is about making

the right choice. Yes, people havestarted moving fast today. With ad-vancements in technology, we wantinstant results and thus we are notgiving much time for strategies to gelinto our ecosystem.

Now one thing is important —don’t see strategy as a tank — strat-egy is about people and it alwaystakes time to change and evolve peo-ple’s habits. Strategy is nothing with-out people so you must be able tocreate safe and conducive environ-ment for your people.

How can females at already goodmanagement positions helpwomen in organstions to rise tothat level?

Only way to create more womenleaders ready to handle top positionsin any organisation is only and onlythrough women.

We should have more women net-working groups with friends, cowork-ers and sometimes even with somestrangers. I am a working mother andit is important for me to help youngerwomen understand that it is alwaysalright not to define yourself solely asa mother. We should not be afraidwhile making our own choices and atthe same time we have to learn to re-spect choices made by others.

Women executives are less innumber but all of them are more re-silient, they are stronger and it takesa lot more to break them. But mostwomen don’t realise this because they are always taught to benice.

It is high time that we accept thefact that we all are similar in andequally capable. Once we start re-specting each other’s choices, it isonly then that we will start to see thatmore women are becoming leaders.Women in high positions must becommitted to give chances to those atnon-management positions. It is allabout having that zeal and respect towards other women.

What will be a message to upcom-ing future leaders?

More and more the decision wetake locally, impact will be felt up onthe things globally. So everyoneshould try to make a difference at their personal level and it will automatically make a huge difference.

People have started moving fast today. With

advancements in technology, we want

instant results and thuswe are not giving muchtime for strategies to gel

into our ecosystem

iNTerVieW

About Karla Martin

Karla Martin is a seasoned executive strategist andbusiness advisor with a successful track record ofbuilding businesses, driving profitable growth, leadingInnovation and helping CEOs on their most significantstrategic and operating decisions. She has a uniqueexpertise in strategy development, omni-channel retail,e-commerce/digital expansion, retail, marketing andinnovation. Former Director, Global Business Strategyand Strategic Planning at Google, she is presently‘Investor and Advisor’ at GANTRY (New Gadget Inc.)

Shopping goes smarter in UAE with MallMateThis iPhone and Android app help shoppers search and discover stores, with simple indoor maps to show you where to go

our correspondent / EMiratEs BusinEss

MallMate, a new mobile app thatstreamlines the shopping mall experi-ence, has officially launched in theUnited Arab Emirates, enabling shop-pers to discover their favourite brands,locate stores within malls on an inter-active map and route planner andshare their findings and preferenceswith their friends, all on one digital

platform. The free app is currentlyavailable for downloadon iPhone and Androiddevices and covers al-most 50 malls in the UAE.

The app, which hasbeen boostrapped by afounding team of entre-preneurs and hackers,was created to integrateinformation from mallsaround the world on toone single platform soconsumers have a one-stop mobile solution fortheir shopping needs,with an interface thatmakes the shopping mallexperience enjoyableand pain-free. The needfor a compelling shop-

ping mall app has grown over the yearsas smartphones have become ubiqui-tous and the retail industry has contin-ued to grow.

“The UAE, and in particular Dubai, isrenowned as a global shopping destina-tion as the retail landscape in the citycontinues to expand at an acceleratingpace. Furthermore, the UAE boasts oneof the highest smartphone penetrationsin the world, yet we find that consumerscontinue to use offline methods to dis-cover, locate and shop at stores, espe-cially inside malls, which is where thetrue value of MallMate lies,” said JaideepDhanoa, MallMate CEO, who has workedin a number of innovative roles in Silicon

Valley, the Middle East and Asia withMcKinsey & Company, Artiman Ven-tures, The Walt Disney Company and theIndian Premier League.

Digital has changed the game forshoppers and retailers; yet, the shop-ping mall is nonexistent on consumersmartphones and is therefore losingmindshare for consumer attention.MallMate helps to address this chal-lenge, extending the shopping mall ex-perience beyond the physical timeshoppers spend at the mall to the Mall-Mate ever-present digital devices,while also improving the in-mall customer experience.

MallMate provides a wide range ofservices allowing any mall-goer orshopper to take advantage of the app –whether users are looking for specialdeals or directions to a specific outlet.The app allows users to search and findany store across any mall in their city.Shoppers can choose which mall tovisit based on the brands they love andfind out where to go in the mall with asimple indoor floor plan at their fingertips. Its most engaging tool is its

‘Love List’, which allow users to savetheir favorite brands so that the app canshare recommendations of stores anddeals when visiting a mall. Users can also

use the app to share recent purchaseswith friends or save items to their wishlist. Lastly, MallMate’s personalizeddeals are especially handy during saleperiods as shoppers can see the fullrange of deals across the city’s malls.

“There are currently no compellingmulti-mall operator apps in the mar-ket. Individual malls may sometimeshave their own apps, but these areoften not very user-friendly and don’tdo justice to the shopping mall experi-ence. With this aim in mind, in addi-tion to our consumer app we are alsoworking on free tools to help retailersand malls engage with their shoppers,”concluded Dhanoa.

MallMate covers nearly 50 malls in theUAE, plus many more around the world.It also currently operates in six cities:Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Hong Kong,Bengaluru and New Delhi and is aggres-sively expanding across the world.

MallMate coversnearly 50 malls inDubai and AbuDhabi, plus manymore around theworld. The app currently operatesin six cities— Dubai,Abu Dhabi, Singapore, HongKong, Bengaluruand New Delhi and is aggressively expanding acrossthe world

Jaideep Dhanoa, MallMate CEO

MallMate is a new mobileapp that streamlines the

shopping mall experience.MallMate enables

shoppers to discover theirfavorite brands, locate

stores within malls on aninteractive map and routeplanner and share theirfindings and preferences

with their friends

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