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The Most Influential Business Leader
Profiling the most influential business leaders driving transformation, innovation, and impact across global industries.
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Profiling the most influential business leaders driving transformation, innovation, and impact across global industries.
Cover Story
Ali Jasat is a seasoned engineering professional, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, and transformation leader with more than two decades of experience in operational excellence, leadership development, and business transformation. With a Manufacturing Engineering and Business Studies background from the University of Birmingham, he has held senior roles at Barloworld Equipment, BMGI, Genpact, and the Six Sigma Management Institute (SSMI), where he serves as Vice President for South Africa. Recognised among the Top 3 Lean Six Sigma leaders within the global Caterpillar network, Ali has led enterprise-wide transformation initiatives, improved operational reliability, developed professional capabilities, and trained hundreds of practitioners. His work combines scientific problem-solving, human-centred leadership, and digital innovation to embed continuous improvement into organisational culture across Africa and beyond.
Cover Story
Steve Thomas, President and Owner of RedRock Business Development and Save on Travel 365, brings nearly three decades of experience across the travel and vacation ownership industry. His career spans sales, marketing, call-center management, business development, resort partnerships, customer engagement, and travel program development with leading industry brands. Through his businesses, Steve focuses on building practical and sustainable travel programs that connect marketing, sales, fulfillment, technology, strong partnerships, and customer satisfaction. Guided by adaptability, transparency, compliance, operational discipline, and long-term relationships, he continues to create flexible travel solutions that balance digital convenience with personalized service.
Cover Story
Jolene Finn, founder of Authentic South Africa, is championing a more meaningful approach to tourism by connecting international travelers with the people, cultures, communities, and lesser-known experiences that define Southern Africa. Drawing on more than two decades of travel-industry experience, she aims to inspire emotional connections with the region, amplify underrepresented tourism businesses, support local communities and conservation initiatives, and promote authentic, responsible, and commercially sustainable travel. Through collaboration, storytelling, and technology, Jolene is working to broaden the global perception of Southern Africa and help travelers discover the people and stories beyond traditional tourism routes.
Cover Story
For more than two decades, Ximena Díaz Alarcón has built a career around understanding human behavior, culture, consumer motivations, innovation, and emerging technologies. As CEO and Founder of YOUNIVERSAL, she helps organizations look beyond data points to uncover the cultural forces, everyday experiences, and human motivations that shape consumer realities.