INSIGHTS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Sarah Keates sits down with Bas Fransen, CEO and Founder of EcoMatcher

How do you define success?

Succeeding in something you value important that does not come easy.

What has a lack of travel and/or easy mobility taught you and how has it affected your business?

Inability to travel taught me that ZOOM/Teams/Google calls are more efficient, and more effective; it has not negatively impacted the business, it probably has helped the business as we now talk to more people more frequently.

What are your corporate values?

Respect, trust, honesty, and ingenuity.

What are your personal values?

Respect, trust, honesty, and ingenuity.

Has your vision for EcoMatcher changed since you started the company?

No.

What are your passions?

Building and leading teams, new technologies, field hockey.

What can we expect from you and EcoMatcher next?

A much bigger footprint as we will partner with more foundations planting trees, and with more and bigger customers.

What are some of the challenges you face now?

Supply of trees, as demand is bigger than we can currently supply.

What do you hope your legacy will be?

Have planted together with partners and customers over 1 billion trees.

If people want to hear about what is next for you and EcoMatcher, what channels can we follow?

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/basfransenhk/

INSIGHTS ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Sarah Keates sits down with a leader from the business aviation sector, Omar Hosari, Co-Founder and CEO at UAS International Trip Support.

1. How do you define success?

Success is subjective. Some find a sense of fulfillment in simple achievements, while others define it with grand milestones. To me, it is the little things that matter. As an entrepreneur, I owe the global success of UAS International Trip Support to our employees. Their commitment and expert skills are highly appreciated.

2. What has a lack of travel and/or easy mobility taught you?

For years we have become accustomed to a fast-paced lifestyle. This has made us neglect a number of things, which has, in turn, affected our relationships, behavior and life goals.

I feel that the lack of travel in recent times has taught us many important lessons. It gave us the opportunity to reevaluate our personal and professional lives. From a personal perspective, it gave us a chance to reorganize our priorities, helped us reconnect with our families and brought value back into the conversations we have with them.

Many industries also found new opportunities as a result of limited mobility, especially business aviation. During the pandemic alone, private jets recorded a spike in flights. There were a number of reasons for this, but most prominent factors were its connections to destinations at a time when commercial flights were restricted, and of course, limited transport time between airport terminals and reduced exposure that ensured health safety.

This is also a time when we discovered innovative ways to digitize our business, which has led to a stronger and more engaged aviation community.

3. What are your corporate values?

I am a firm believer that employees are the foundation of any successful organization. I am truly grateful to have a hard-working team that has contributed their skills and expertise to the success of UAS International Flight Support and strengthened its global presence. We have an inclusive environment, where every employee has an opportunity to get involved in business operations, express their thoughts and share feedback. This is very important to me.

From a business perspective, I aim to play a role in establishing a sustainable and well-informed aerospace community through UAS International Flight Support. I have been active in international conferences and forums, both physically and virtually, to share effective solutions and thoughts that bring value to the industry. Furthermore, we work towards fortifying our customer relationships and offer full range of services to meet all their aviation needs.

4. What are your personal values?

I believe in living a life with empathy. We come across many different personalities and situation in our daily lives and I feel that it is important to form a mindful connection. My family are a big influence in my life, and I strive to be a better man because of them. Their thoughts and experiences have helped me develop as the leader I am today. I hope to inspire my children and encourage them to become conscious leaders themselves, while making them proud.

5. Has your vision for UAS changed since you started the company?

No. Since the establishment of UAS International Trip Support in 2000, we have been committed to our vision of revolutionizing international business flight user experience. However, our priorities and tools have undergone change during the journey.

The aviation industry is constantly evolving, welcoming new technology and innovation to the forefront, so change is inevitable. At UAS, we continue to reevaluate our strategies and align our goals with the latest industry standards. The UAS Evolution Technology Suite – LinkEvolution and TMSEvolution – was developed in-house and illustrates UAS’ willingness to be in tune with trends and give clients the solutions they want and need.

Sustainability is a strong talking point today and the industry is undertaking initiatives to reduce carbon footprint and switch to sustainable aviation fuels. I have also been actively involved in this field, as a board member of the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and the Asian Business Aviation Association (AsBAA), taking UAS to greater heights.

6. You love adventure, why?

There’s more to adventure than just the thrill. As entrepreneurs, we are often busy behind desks and this can take a toll on creativity, limit our personal growth and add to daily stress. So making the time to be in the great outdoors is refreshing and peaceful in its own way. I also enjoy the freedom that comes along with adventures.

To be specific, I love mountain climbing because of the challenges it presents to me. It gives me a sense of fulfillment when I overcome the obstacles and also helps ease my mind.

Of course, climbing a mountain is not easy, but I find the challenge worth conquering. Everything from equipping myself with gear and the mental preparation to the ascent and descent, followed by the fear of failure all contribute towards my personal development as a leader. The physical and mental struggle paves way to growth and improvement.

7. What’s next on your bucket list?

To date, I have been to Mount Everest and Kilimanjaro, and it has been a dream of mine to climb the Seven Summits of the world. I am currently working my way towards it.

8. What are some of the challenges you face now?

It is natural for entrepreneurs to face challenges on a business and operational level and difficult for me to pinpoint. Aside from the usual, I am on a never-ending journey of self-improvement. I consider this a challenge because there is no right or wrong way to be a better leader, but there are instances when your environment can greatly influence your decisions. At times, our choices may not be the best course of action, but we live and we learn from experience.

9. What do you hope your legacy will be?

I hope to be leader that will be remembered as inspirational among both employees and my family. I hope my actions and attitude instill a sense of confidence among team members and encourage them to become leaders in their own right. I wish the same for my family. As mentioned earlier, I will continue become a better version of myself, with a can-do attitude. In this regard, I want everyone to know that the world is full of possibilities. One needs to be bold enough to seize it and turn dreams into reality.

10. Where can people follow you and find out more about you and UAS?

I am very active on most social media channels, especially LinkedIn, where I share my thought leadership and insights into my experience as an entrepreneur in aviation.

Here are my handles:
LinkedIn
Facebook

As for UAS International Trip Support:
LinkedIn
Facebook