CEO Today Europe Awards

www.ceotodaymagazine.com 82 CEO Today Europe Awards 2018 the united kingdom we think about the next development for IrisGuard, we always base this on what will help those people, what will make their lives easier, what will give them more dignity? It’s this passion for enabling real assistance for real people that makes us unique. Our partnerships with the UNHCR and World Food Programme has seen IrisGuard enabling hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees both in camps and urban areas to receive assistance and care for their families. We know that these families rely so heavily on IrisGuard’s technology to get it right first time and give them the sense of dignity that comes with being able to feed, clothe and house your dependents. A large number of our team have visited either the refugee camps or the urban registration centres, so we understand personally how much something as simple as being able to pay for staple groceries changes lives. Why is there a need for iris recognition to help refugees? Can’t they just be given a card? Yes they can, and historically this was the case. Unfortunately, even with a photograph on the card, these systems are easy to defraud because cards are easy to lose, steal or trade. Back in 2012, the then UN General Secretary, Ban Ki Moon, stated that “30% of development aid…….failed to reach its destination owing to corruption”, thereby significantly reducing the amount of donor funds that actually reaches refugees, asylum seekers or the internally displaced. By using iris recognition through our EyePay® platform instead of a card, you don’t just authenticate the refugee’s identity and verify their entitlement to assistance, you also know 100% that they are alive and still living in the target country. The EyePay® solution ensures that every dollar, pound or euro paid by donors (which comes from tax payers) reaches its intended beneficiary: this is not possible using any other platform. And funds not redeemed are simply rolled over, so donor funds are stretched further, helping even more needy people. How do you answer your critics regarding the protection of vulnerable people’s data? It is really important to understand that IrisGuard is not a data guardian. On enrolment, the Iris scans are converted to a reliable and permanent Unique Verifiable Identity (UVI), and these UVIs are stored by the partner organisation, not IrisGuard. We have no access to the databases or ownership of it; our secure platforms simply facilitate the authentication of the refugees’ identities and the delivery of cash or goods based on that. All of our team members – whether based in the UK or not – have undertaken training in the new General Protection Data Register (GDPR) legislation due to come into force this May, so we are all fully aware of how important protecting sensitive data is, and our role in keeping this secure and accessible only to the data owner. What is your approach to leadership, and how do you feel to have been recognised with a CEO Europe award? Obviously, I am delighted to have won the award, but I cannot take all the credit for the success of IrisGuard. Behind me is a team of talented, passionate, energetic people all driving the company to bigger and better things. We have expanded our team quite considerably to drive our platforms forward, to ensure we keep our reputation as the industry pioneer shining just as bright as it always has! For me personally, the award is a reflection of how much I have invested in time and effort into IrisGuard. In seventeen years there have been downs as well as ups, but I’ve always believed in the technology and the team, and now it’s all converging as planned. In terms of leadership, I spend my time between the UK and the Middle East and Africa offices and so I rely heavily on the state- of-the-art communications applications. But I also like to get out there and speak to customers and prospects, I was recently part of the booth team at the Seamless Payments exhibition in Cape Town, to showcase our latest innovations and really understand customer pinch points. It’s this kind of insight that helps us shape IrisGuard for the future. shopping using only her iris © WFP, Mohammad Batah cash on wheels Q Q Q