- Tell us about your time at Diginex and what you have loved about it the most so far?
I was part of the original group who span out of our previous company and founded Diginex 3.5 years ago. It’s been an incredible journey building, launching and commercialising products from concepts to market ready. Gray (our CTO) has some great photos of us huddled around whiteboards producing designs back in 2020 and what I love now hearing is how our customers are finding such great value in the things that we’ve built.
- What do you consider to be your greatest achievement as CEO and why?
Ask me again in a few months and I may have a different answer, but for now I consider the launches of diginexESG and diginexLUMEN to be the achievements I am most proud of. These are such labours of love born from primarily from the visions of Jessica Camus (ESG) and Leanne Melnyk (Lumen) and now in the hands of companies around the world. I’d also mention the first UK Government funded contract we won to build a large supply chain tech platform in Bangladesh. That was our first big win and I think really announced our arrival as a credible software player. And the team we have; we’ve built a team of professionals who are all excellent at what they individually do and respect each other for that excellence.
- What would you say is the driving force in your life?
When harnessed appropriately, obsession can be a powerful motivator. Obsession with quality, with team performance, but above all with customer service. I’d also add a desire to always want to do things better. One of the main reasons we launched both diginexESG and diginexLUMEN is a belief that companies were paying far too much and taking far too long to complete their sustainability reporting, and we wanted to improve that.
- Outside of work, what are some of your passions/hobbies??
Besides first and foremost my family, I am an endurance athlete. I’ve been a double national champion at rowing, run across the Gobi desert (twice), an Ironman triathlon, and participated in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. These races have taught me a lot that our actual limits often lie far, far beyond where we initially think they lie. Frontiers are there to be pushed.
- What advice would you give the younger generation starting their careers today?
If career success is what you desire, then I’ve rarely met anyone who was successful who wasn’t also one of the hardest working people around. That comes with some trade-offs (and sacrifices) which you’ll need to weigh up, but I found it to nearly always be the case. Other that than I would encourage that people develop a broad range of skills within a company. Commercially minded product managers or technically minded salespeople often generate >2x value because they are relatively rare and can sit across silos and conversations.
Global Supply Chains | Tech against Trafficking
9 个月Amazing, Mark Blick! And out of all those endurance races, are there any you would to again? Or wouldn’t do again?