We got a chance to interview Oliver Efremov, an events management and execution professional. He is the Managing Director of Leoron HQ, Riyadh, KSA. With strong communication skills and exceptional passion for his work, Oliver aims to succeed in everything he does.
Let’s see what we got through throughout our interview.
“What’s the idea behind Leoron?” We asked Oliver.
“Leoron was founded more than a decade ago, combining the experience of our founders from Sweden, the EU, and Dubai. We localized our business operations in Dubai and Riyadh in early 2010, only to emerge as leaders in the training, learning, and development industries in the past decade. The idea behind the foundation of Leoron and what we stand for is simple: We are working with a motive to boost the competitiveness of our clients worldwide by improving the competency levels of their employees through top-quality training and development solutions delivered by unrivaled global experts and facilitated by the best training managers in the industry.” he says.
Continuing on our interview with Oliver Efremov, we discussed his career journey, advice, and goals.
Career Journey And Growth-driven Goal
To understand how Oliver came to this position, we asked him, “how did you begin your career journey?”
“To be completely honest, I began my career journey by force of accident. I was recruited around a decade ago by our now CEO, and I was given a shot. As a young man eager to learn, I hadn’t set straight goals regarding my career back then. However, as I was learning and working my way in the organization, the path became clear.”
That’s great. Would you like to give some advice to beginners out there?
Oliver replied, “Yes, I have plenty of advice for beginners in any career field, and this is: Work hard and set your goals. If you have no goals, you risk the hard work going to waste.”
Yes, indeed, goals are crucial. Would you tell us what the goals of Leoron are?
“Leoron’s goal is to grow. We aim to evolve into the biggest and dominant training and development company in the EMEA region. We have a special focus put on helping the countries where we work, like supporting Vision2030 in KSA and local government and community initiatives in UAE, Oman, and Macedonia. We take pride in our work.” says Oliver.
The Pathway To Successful Teamwork
What makes the team successful, in your opinion? We asked Oliver.
According to him, “Only 3 simple things make the team successful: Goal. Communication. Listening skills.”
Further, we believe that a team’s productivity is also crucial for seamless business performance. And productivity gets better if a team has increased energy levels. To learn about Oliver’s views on this, we asked him, “How important are employees’ energy levels to the success of your company?”
He says, “Like any other industry, the energy and motivation of employees in event management is often fluid. Situations can put us down, but only with communication and listening skills can we lift ourselves up. Having a common goal and giving our best towards achieving it gives us high energy levels in our offices around EMEA. We also run internal coaching and mentoring academies that are constantly active and engaging for all employees to lean on to.”
While discussing the motivation of employees, could you tell us how you plan to motivate your team to go the extra mile?
“Trust is a huge denominator here. If the company trusts and empowers its employees, they naturally give back and return the favor. I strongly advocate empowering people, trusting them, and showing them the way. Often, they surprise me with new and innovative ideas. It is a 2-way street, and our employees are the driving force pulling us forward,” shares Oliver.
What keeps your company moving forward even during challenges? We asked him.
He says, “The colleagues. The culture. The people. We are one organism. Different personalities and different cultures mixed in one company with open communication channels is a strong diesel engine. Encouragement for ideation does the rest.”
Technology Driven Business Growth
Based on the current trends, we see technology and its prevalence everywhere we walk. Whether we talk about finance, hospitality, consultancy, management, or any other type of industry, technology is becoming a major part of it all. While throwing light on this, we asked Oliver:
“How do you think technology is leading to changes in businesses? Do you feel it’s helping your company grow?”
He said, “From a marketing perspective, I view technology as having a defining role in business operations’ success and value delivery.
Clients, production, vendors, supply and procurement, stakeholders, communication, finances, and security are all facilitated by a powerful tech stack nowadays.
We’re enthusiastic about streamlining all processes through tech, particularly ones pertaining to functions within marketing, communications, event management, and learning and knowledge transfer approaches.”
Since we are discussing technology, please tell us how your company is adapting to digitalization.
“We’ve been at the forefront of digital transformation for quite a while now.
This comes as no surprise since we haven’t only kept the pace by employing its principles in our day-to-day work but also led from the front across the Middle East by introducing innovations to business, such as overhauling the learning process through the latest eLearning trends like gamification, mobile and microlearning, analytics, AI, and more.
And for years now, we’ve also successfully deployed our experts, trainers, and consultants on the field to help some of the soundest names in Saudi Arabia and UAE tackle their digitization challenges.” replies Oliver.
We further asked, “Do you use innovative ideas to be unique?”
“Definitely.
Although, I’d argue that we strive to provide value, first and foremost. Uniqueness comes as a result.
Right now, back at the marketing team, we’re looking into the possibility of presenting our learners with VR training.
It’s a great novelty that sometimes strikes as a breakthrough, even showy. But at the end of the day, our learners will benefit the most by attending one of these sessions where they can truly immerse themselves in the learning process from wherever they are.
It’s just a continuation of our prior developments like blended learning and LIVE virtual training, or the gamification of our portfolios – which we rolled out during critical times in the past – such as the global financial crisis that impacted L&D budgets across enterprises, or the Covid pandemic which impacted learner mobility, etc.” shares Oliver.
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Ultimate Services To Change The World
When we asked Oliver about the services that his company Leoron provides, he replied:
“We’ve grown so much.
At one point, we grew into the dominant training provider in the GCC in terms of certified corporate learning solutions, and we still are.
But we’re so much more:
- An EduTech company that’s bringing some of the most sought-after partnerships with global providers to the GCC
- An early adopter and implementer of the future technology.
- A prominent hub for expert coaches and consultants in key development areas that GCC’s top companies are looking to improve.”
Our last question to Oliver was, “Would you like to say anything else to our viewers?”
He said, “We are changing worlds at LEORON Institute.
And out of all worlds, there’s one we’re especially keen on – the learning world!
Stay with us as we bring new ideas to life, make learning more engaging, and allow you and your people to acquire knowledge more efficiently.”
Lastly, I want to say:
We attribute our growth to our skilled workforce, to which we’re always looking forward to landing new employees. LEORON Institute is currently on the lookout for 6 new members for the Marketing team – of which 2 Arabic speakers – for the Copywriter and Content Writer positions.
We encourage you to apply.
Connect with Oliver Efremov on LinkedIn.
