10 - 16 May 2001

Lady with a passion for business

Brigitte Baumann, recently appointed CEO of iWorld Group, talks to Blanche Gatt
about her decision to move to Malta and take up the e-mobile challenge

Next time your mobile rings take a moment to imagine what it might be ringing for. Today, the likelihood is that it’s either a voice call or a text message from a friend or colleague, but in the future, who knows? It could be your daily newspaper transmitting the main stories of the day, or your travel itinerary arriving direct to your mobile phone. Your favourite supermarket may be confirming your weekly order, or perhaps you’re participating in a TV discussion programme.
Mobile commerce is just one term to describe the way that cellular telephones are already beginning to be used. And there are some who believe that not only is the mobile more than just a portable version of the trusty old land-line, but that cellular technology will lead to an evolution of the mobile phone into a life-changing personal and professional tool, allowing total freedom from constraints of time and location.
One such person is Brigitte Baumann, the new CEO of Malta-based, e-mobile business builder, iWORLD Group. She comes to iWG from American Express in New York, where she held the positions of Senior vice-president and general manager for Internet and Smart Card, and where she introduced a plethora of new services including On-Line Travel, E-Procurement and On-Line Servicing of Cards. Before that, her extensive experiences and renowned management skills have taken her from her native France, through Europe, across the United States and into Asia, and have involved her in a variety of challenging industries, from chemicals and pharmaceuticals, to financial services and travel.
“I have a passion for building businesses,” she said when asked why she moved to iWG, “and especially those that try to bring technology and people together and involve creating applications that solve problems. Besides, iWG has a truly global outlook, which makes it very significant in my eyes. And that’s why I’m really intrigued by Malta itself. So many cultures can and do co-exist here – it’s a very open-minded place.”
“Before joining American Express,” she continued, “ I spent some years as president, US and Canada, of Gemplus – the world’s largest manufacturer of sim cards. During my time there I launched sim card technology in North America, and I totally fell in love with what technology can open up for people. Following that I spent two years totally immersed in e-commerce at American Express, so building m-commerce businesses with iWG fits perfectly with what I have been doing. In fact, if you combine the m of m-commerce with the e of e-commerce, it spells me – and I took that to be an extremely positive omen!”
Creating m-commerce businesses for eventual launch onto a global market, iWG is a business builder operating in a climate that has become ambivalent to the incubator model after a number of failures in Europe and the US. “That’s true,” said Brigitte, “but iWG is very different from the general run of incubators. In fact, I prefer to think of us as an m-commerce application development company. Traditional incubators take other people’s ideas and provide facilities management and access to funding. In our case, we generate all our business ideas ourselves through our iDeasTank process. We are not only offering facilities and support, but we are actually the parents of our offspring companies. So, while in a sense we are an incubator, they are home-grown ideas that remain very much our concern throughout their development and beyond their launch. What we do with our companies has a much higher value than simply offering facilities.”
“In addition, iWG has got four extremely powerful factors in its favour,” she continued. “First, our founders and employees include people who truly understand telecoms and mobile technology. Second, our founders have impressive proven track records in the field. Third, we have put in place a superb global network of advisers the like of which no other incubator in the world can boast, and fourth, I was very impressed with our investors, who include Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, Paine Webber and other very solid, international institutions. These global partners of iWG showed me that they have a strong belief in the company, which already had the elements to create ideas and the people to make them grow. I joined in order to add impetus to the building up of these ideas into businesses.”
The potential for mobile commerce is only just beginning to be recognised, and people outside the telecoms arena are still uncertain of what it means. “Well,” said Brigitte, “I think what we see now is really just a transfer of what people did on their fixed lines to mobile lines. But we’re only at the beginning of seeing some truly dramatic shifts in the way people work and live their lives. If you look at the way electricity was used in the beginning, it offers a similar analogy.
“At first electricity was only a more convenient substitute for traditional lighting methods. It is only much later that things like computers and sophisticated technology using electricity began to emerge. And in the world of mobile devices, we are just entering phase two now. People like our founders Andreas W. Gerdes, Bettina Vossberg and Malcolm Ross are seeing things that will happen five, 10 years down the road.”
Though iWG offspring companies will be developed for launch in major world markets across Europe, the United States and Asia, Malta is providing an ideal testing ground for the business ideas. “Malta is a fantastic test market,” added Brigitte. “The island has all the latest technology and the people here are open to try out new services. And, as a small and flexible community, it is easier to put such tests together, get them up and running.”
A few weeks ago, iWG actually tested one of its first products, an audience response service, in conjunction with a local radio station and the student-run, iWG-sponsored, Start-Up Malta business plan competition. “Each of the four final teams were given the opportunity to go on air and briefly explain their business plans,” explained Brigitte, “while the audience were invited to vote for their favourite. It was hugely successful, and the radio station itself was very surprised at the size of the response, and is very keen to repeat the exercise. More then 400 SMS votes were logged onto our system between 5 and 6pm that afternoon, and throughout the voting, the organisers were able to check the instantly up-dated scoring as the votes came in.
“And in the next few weeks we shall also be launching an Alpha test of our role-model identification service, which will offer the latest news and information about pop stars and other teen idols.”
Brigitte arrived in Malta in mid-April and immediately took over the running of iWG with its 50-plus complement of employees from around the world. “I am very impressed with Malta as a base for our operations,” she commented. “The quality of the people here is excellent, and not only in terms of skills, but also attitude. This is a burgeoning country with an open and welcoming outlook on new developments, and I think iWG Group can offer a lot to the island in terms of entrepreneurial spirit and business know-how.
“But also, and very importantly, I see here a wonderful balance between unbelievable historical beauty and heritage of the island and the high tech, modern facilities. It is the perfect place to live out one of the most valuable precepts of all time; respect the past, but use it to grow towards the future.”