WorldVentures Foundation Plants Seeds of Hope in Zimbabwe

As the world mourned Cecil the Lion and debated the humanity of hunting big game in Zimbabwe, a baby found abandoned in a pit latrine was being loved back to life nearby. How she got there, no one knows, but her plight fuelled purpose for those who joined WorldVentures Foundation™ (WVF) in August for Volunteer Days at the Rose of Charity Orphanage and its Community Center in Victoria Falls.
“My heart breaks when I think of that sweet baby, left to drown in human waste,” said WVF Executive Director Gwyneth Lloyd, as she fought back tears. “The inhumanity is unspeakable but, as horrible as it is, stories like hers are all-too common. It’s why we are called to serve.”

Lloyd and her team led two groups of WorldVentures Representatives and Members to Zimbabwe August 9-16 and August 13-16 to clean, paint, furnish and construct a sustainable food garden at the Victoria Falls orphanage. The beautiful humanitarian Simangele Moyo founded the home in 2007 as a haven for children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Today, services have expanded to include personal empowerment workshops, education assistance, therapeutic counselling and more. WorldVentures Foundation raises funds and provides volunteer support for outreach organizations like Rose of Charity to fulfil its mission to positively impact children worldwide.

Lloyd said education and clear paths to self-sufficiency will help end the cycle of teen pregnancy and baby abandonment that leads to institutionalization in Zimbabwe. To that end, WVF volunteers are helping to collaborate on funding a school dropout prevention program at the orphanage that includes vocational training for careers in tourism and hospitality. Lloyd also invited the management at nearby Elephant Hills Hotel about partnering with the home on training and job placement.

“Without the selfless contributions of our volunteers, none of this would be possible,” Lloyd shared. “They’ve built more than a garden here; they’ve planted seeds of hope.”

WorldVentures Rep Misty Anderson of Chattanooga, Tenn., was among the volunteers who came to lend support. With a heart for giving that stems from her own disadvantaged youth, she expressed her passion for the Volunteer Days program. 

“I’m passionate because I was kinda raised like this,” she said tearfully, while watching the orphans play. “I want to give because I didn’t really have anybody to give back for me. Being able to overcome some of the things I’ve come from, I want to help others overcome. I would advise anybody to do this because of what you get out of it.”    

WorldVentures Once Again Recognized as an Inc. 5000

WorldVentures™, the leading international direct seller of vacation club memberships, ranked No. 915 in Inc. magazine’s 34th annual Inc. 5000, an exclusive ranking of America’s fastest-growing private companies. WorldVentures received its ranking based on growth of 491% in the past three years.

The list represents one of the most important segments of the economy—America’s independent entrepreneurs. Companies such as Yelp, Pandora, Timberland, Dell, Domino’s Pizza, LinkedIn, Zillow, and many other prominent businesses, gained early exposure as members of the Inc. 5000.

“We’re honored to be named to the fastest-growing companies list once again,” WorldVentures Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer Wayne Nugent said. “We’ve catapulted from 2333 last year to number 915 this year and rank ninth for the top travel and hospitality companies. What a great achievement for our corporate team and Independent Representatives around the world who have worked so hard to deliver these results.”  

The 2015 Inc. 5000, unveiled online at Inc.com is the most competitive crop in the list’s history. The average company on the list achieved an impressive three-year growth of 490%. The Inc. 5000’s aggregate revenue is $205 billion, generating 647,000 jobs over the past three years. Complete results of the Inc. 5000 can be found at www.inc.com/inc5000.          

"The story of this year’s Inc. 5000 is the story of great leadership,” Inc. President and Editor-in-Chief Eric Schurenberg said. “In an incredibly competitive business landscape, it takes something extraordinary to take your company to the top. You have to remember that the average company on the Inc. 5000 grew nearly six-fold since 2012. Business owners don’t achieve that kind of success by accident."

This recognition comes at a time of tremendous growth for WorldVentures. In addition to the being named one of America’s fastest-growing private companies in the Inc. 5000 list, WorldVentures was recognized at No. 47 on the Direct Selling News’ DSN Global 100 list and No. 25 on the DSN North America 50 list. And recently, its core product, DreamTrips™ Memberships, eclipsed competitors for the coveted title of “Africa’s Leading Travel Club” during the World Travel Awards.

Ozonetel Launches Speech Recognition on CloudAgent

Ozonetel Systems, the pioneer in Cloud Communications in India has launched Speech Recognition on CloudAgent, the Contact Centre Solution.

Last year, Ozonetel acquired the speech recognition business of Yantra Software, a provider of speech and voice technology products and services.  The objective was to integrate their speech capabilities into the core KooKoo platform so that KooKoo developers can start building speech applications for providing quality services at a lower cost to its customers. Ozonetel has spent close to a year rigorously testing the software with its platform using various dialects and trying to make the system foolproof before launching it to the end customers.

You can check out a small demo by calling 040-30247041. It will ask you to say a number from 1 to 9. Say a number from 1 to 9 and wait. The IVR will repeat the number spoken by you.
We are moving from "Please press 1 for Sales or 2 for Support" to "Please say 1 for sales or 2 for support". It will not be long before the IVR says "Please say Sales or Support"
Compared to Google & Siri, this might seem to be quite a basic solution but our approach to speech is to make it easily available to the end users without them knowing how speech recognition works. Ozonetel will be rolling out multiple domain specific word packs for cities/state, grocery, banking, insurance etc. These would be already trained and tested for accuracy, and our team will continuously monitor and improve it for better accuracy.

With the launch of Speech Recognition, Ozonetel will redefine the whole IVR experience for the end customers. The technology can immensely benefit businesses who are trying to reach the base of the pyramid market segments. People who cannot read and write, can now verbally respond to the IVR prompts instead of having to feed in digits through the mobile keypad. The IVR prompts can be in the local language. Our vision is to solve the customer communication problems for businesses and this is another big leap in this direction. The reach and impact that the speech recognition technology can provide can be humongous.
Some of the immediate benefits can be summed up as follows:

• Businesses can market their services to rural population without having to worry about the education level of such target audiences.
• Banks can use speech recognition services to reach out to unbanked people to bank on feature phones using IVR and they can be authenticated using speech bio metrics.
• Urban audiences can now also use the speech recognition to go respond to the IVR prompts because they won’t have to keep moving the phone away from the ear to look at the keypad and feed in the digits. They can be using an IVR service even while driving.

Ozonetel in its constant endeavour to innovate and provide the best technology solutions to its customers is now helping businesses improve the way they “speak” and “listen” to their customers.

IBSFINtech launches ‘Treasury on Cloud’ for SMEs in India

   An innovative self-sufficient solution for treasury management designed for MSMEs in India

 IBSFINtech, the leading provider of niche financial software for Forex, Treasury and Trade Finance management, is pleased to announce launch of ‘Treasury on Cloud’, an innovative approach to treasury management designed for MSMEs in India.

IBSFINtech received an overwhelming response at a recent launch and participation at CII Summit in Kolkata titled ‘Empowering SMEs Through Addressing Their Financing Needs’.

IBSFINtech’s ‘Treasury on Cloud’ product offering is designed to particularly drive the Government of India’s Make in India campaign more effectively, by empowering MSMEs in effective management of treasury & trade finance functions and helping them achieve higher growth and scale.

Speaking on the occasion, Haresh Patel, Member - Advisory Board, IBSFINtech, said “We are excited to launch ‘Treasury on Cloud’, designed to assist MSMEs in effective management of market risks, that too with a nominal investment. Treasury on Cloud is a self-sufficient solution to address needs of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises of the country. It is an ideal solution for MSMEs as it requires no capital expenditure, allows for rapid implementation, and no risk owing to the pay-as-you-go model!”

Amit Tripathi, Deputy Director at CII, said, “IBSFINtech is a technology company with strong presence in niche financial software solutions. CII provided a platform for IBSFINtech to launch their innovative treasury product offering on cloud, designed to suit the requiremnts of the MSME segment in the country.”

He further added, “MSME is the most critical and fastest growing segment in the country, and with enhanced support from Government of India via the Make In India campaign, MSMEs expansion is inevitable. I believe IBSFINtech can play a pivotal role in supporting MSMEs via their innovative product portfolio in treasury and trade finance management. ”

IBSFINtech’s next-gen products, Innovative TreasuryTM Solution & Innovative Trade FinanceTM Solution have seen an exciting response in the industry.

Both the solutions are being subscribed by some of India’s leading retail chains and stores. The corporate treasury implementations are currently being used by varied customers including publishers, manufacturers, service providers and numerous other verticals.