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Your: Misha Malik
Business: GIG9
Location: London, United Kingdom
Industry: Professional Services
Reason for starting? 1.4 billion workers will find themselves in vulnerable jobs this year. To simply enter into the job market is considered a feat on its own so this added statistic is one that needs to be noted. This is what makes the gig economy shine brightly as various factors such as your gender, nationality, age and even any disability factors do not play any roles in GIG9; all that’s needed is your willingness to get the job done. GIG9 is a peer-to-peer decentralized ecosystem that directly connects local service providers and users, powered by blockchain-based smart contracts. So any predetermined stigmas that are present in the modern-day workforce such as women entrepreneurship, workers with disabilities, young business leaders and older skilled workers have just as much potential as everyone else. Additionally, GIG9 will actively campaign for these groups in the hopes of eradicating any preconceived notions. With GIG9, we can break every boundary.
Related: Read about another Professional Services entrepreneur here.
How do you define success? First and foremost, success is to encourage and inspire others to achieve their goals. Additionally, I believe success is defined as achieving so much more than you possibly planned in the beginning – the journey that you walk through allowing you to grow with every hindrance, learn from every obstacle, celebrate with every milestone and being enlightened through the joy of not only yourself but through the joy of those around you.
Biggest success: With my entrepreneurial spirit, I have been fortunate enough to push my boundaries, tapping into various areas of the service industry. One of my companies, ahotelier which is a hotel management firm dealing with hotels’ risk management, governance and internal control processes, has been specially been selected as a representative for Parliamentary Review UK for 2018. Additionally, with the development of GIG9, I am proud to be one of the few women of colour in the Fintech industry as a founder and CEO out there realizing the opportunities that lie within our product to change the face of our global economy.
I would like GIG9 to ultimately inspire people all over the world to either plan for their business, even enhance their own current business or just simply be willing to lend a hand when they sign up with GIG9 as we provide the tools necessary to help our users in any way possible. Additionally, I would like to contribute to the gig economy to help eradicate unemployment and bridge the gap between rich and poor to empower each and every person out there. Together with GIG9, not only will we change the face of our global economy but we shall also empower and campaign for equal opportunities irrespective of gender, nationality, age or capability; together, we can break the norm, enforce change and create history.
Related: Calling Women Entrepreneurs! Applications Are Now Open for the 2018 Resist List!
What is your top challenge and how you have addressed it? To be honest, I was quite fortunate in basically every area of GIG9 and this includes everything from the start-up to the development. The idea was created by myself and 7 of my fellow Oxford Alumni as we all had a passion to disrupt the global gig economy. Having a strong founding team by my side helped me lay the foundation for a strong idea that was easy to market and sell as we decided to focus on actually delivering a product to target local service providers globally. Once we laid the foundation, it did take some time to assemble a great team but once this happened, things moved even more smoothly than I had imagined and it’s all thanks to the relationship, work ethic and bond we all have with each other and our passion for the project as a whole.
As the CEO and the founder of GIG9, my main responsibility is to ensure that the foundation of the project is strengthened and realized every single day. That includes ensuring every member of my team is on the same page in terms of the work they are responsible for whether it be marketing, admin, advertising, technical, etc. I also have to be the positive force for our group so that I can lift everyone up in case we ever go through any obstacles. And, of course, I have to be passionate about every area of GIG9 and how it is perceived by our audience and our investors.
Who is your most important role model? It takes a powerful woman like my mother to inspire me to push my boundaries to place my mark on this world. She has been affected by arthritis and my father has lost his leg, but neither of these situations ever dampened their passion for success being a renowned gynaecologist and top engineer respectively. Since the struggle for them is quite hard due to their health, I created GIG9 to somehow bring simplicity and ease when it comes to connectivity to local services. Throughout my journey, my husband has been by my side holding me up and encouraging me every step of the way. My parents and my husband’s mark on my life has been one of the most profound reasons for the inception of GIG9 – to create a positive change in this world. I would like to hopefully be someone’s inspiration as I lead my team to launch GIG9 into the market for every woman to know that they too can achieve their goals regardless of the current situation, trends or stigmas.
[box_light]Website www.gig9.io
Twitter @GIG9io
Facebook www.facebook.com/GIG9.io[/box_light]
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Edited by The Story Exchange