"One piece of advice I wish I received when the pandemic started is how important communication between the team is."
Meet Nicholas Fernandes, Founder/CEO of Memmzy INC.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Nicholas Fernandes: Memmzy is a health tech company. We have two sides to the business, which caters to both B2C and B2B. Our B2C side offers our customers a monthly subscription period kit that has everything they need for their period for prices more affordable than visiting your nearest CVS/Walmart. Every package also includes free self-care products like bath bombs or face masks with encouraging messages. Our B2B side is for businesses/universities and any organization that has public restrooms or restrooms for their employees where they can have our own Memmzy dispensers that dispense pads and tampons for free. Memmzy dispensers are a perk that shows that the organization actually cares about their customers/employees/students.
We are a working health app that will help our customers/users track their health specifically help them with their periods, birth control, ovulation, and give them a safe space to find peer support with their health problems.
2020 and 2021 threw a lot of curve balls into business on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past couple years, how can businesses thrive in 2022? What lessons have you learned?
Nicholas Fernandes: I have one word for companies that came out stronger in the past two years and that is innovators. They had to innovate their business in a matter of days or weeks to keep up with regulations, to even shortage of raw materials to even making work remote for their employees. Businesses that can adapt and continue to evolve are the companies that will thrive in 2022 and beyond. In short, the businesses that innovate will remain and prevail over anything that’s thrown at them.
The pandemic seems to keep on disrupting the economy, what should businesses focus on in 2022? What advice would you share?
Nicholas Fernandes: Businesses need to keep a cash reserve for future unforeseen events, what helped us at Memmzy was the ability to use funds to completely move remote over the past two years that in the long run will save us a lot of money and increased productivity as well catering to state regulations.
How has the pandemic changed your industry and how have you adapted?
Nicholas Fernandes: The pandemic has opened several people’s eyes regarding their health and the health tech sector has seen tremendous growth over the past two years itself. In fact, it’s projected to grow by 15.1 percent from 2021 to 2028. We found another gap in the market which is why we are developing our own health app that will go hand in hand with our period kits and other health packages to give our customers the most accurate data about their health and keep them on top.
What advice do you wish you received when the pandemic started and what do you intend on improving in 2022?
Nicholas Fernandes: One piece of advice I wish I received when the pandemic started is how important communication between the team is. This year we striving to have open communication between every employee even if they are part-time, we want them to be heard and take their recommendations and feedback and try to implement them as much as possible. We are currently in a new era where employees need to be as if not happier than the customer for the success of the business.
The pandemic has shown several employees that their organizations don’t care about them hence we are seeing “the great resignation” in the past year and it continues to this year.
Online business surged higher than ever, B2B, B2C, online shopping, virtual meetings, remote work, Zoom medical consultations, what are your expectations for 2022?
Nicholas Fernandes: I think the change from in-person to remote has opened up several new revenue streams. We are truly using technology to its full potential while also being able to become more efficient and effective as well. Employees no longer have to waste time on travel or getting ready for work which research has shown to increase productivity. Prior to contrary belief employees are more productive
How many hours a day do you spend in front of a screen?
Nicholas Fernandes: I want to say about 9 to 10 hours on weekdays but about 5 on weekends. I do want to profess that I take breaks every couple of hours and stretch and sometimes I even take work calls outside in the neighborhood park.
The majority of executives use stories to persuade and communicate in the workplace. Can you share with our readers examples of how you implement that in your business to communicate effectively with your team?
Nicholas Fernandes: I like to share my insight with my team, what this does is gives them the necessary tools to see it from my point of view. Communication has always been my priority as a leader and I try to understand each individual I work with on what is the best way to approach to take with them while communicating. Using stories is not always the best form of communication but sometimes it is, I think finding the right balance and tone with your employees and peers is what makes you an effective leader.
Business is all about overcoming obstacles and creating opportunities for growth. What do you see as the real challenge right now?
Nicholas Fernandes: For us, customer acquisition has been a real challenge, Running a feminine hygiene company being male is a challenge by itself. The way I offset that is by conducting surveys every few weeks with our client base and similar demographic to improve on our services/products.
It’s a matter of time before our company will gain customer trust as other pioneers like Ray Raymond who was the founder of Victoria’s secret, William Procter, and James Gamble who are founders of Procter and gamble that make brands that are most used by women like Always/Tampax or Dominique Mandonnaud the founder of Sephora. I’m pretty sure all these men had the same difficulty breaking into a majority woman-customer-based market and it probably took time for them to trust them as a brand but now they dominate their respective sectors.
In 2022, what are you most interested in learning about? Crypto, NFTs, online marketing, or any other skill sets? Please share your motivations.
Nicholas Fernandes: I have been a big believer in the blockchain since 2012 and I am really excited to see where the technology is heading with respect to crypto and smart contracts to make it even easier for companies to provide goods and services.
A record 4.4 million Americans left their jobs in September in 2021, accelerating a trend that has become known as the Great Resignation. 47% of people plan to leave their job during 2022. Most are leaving because of their boss or their company culture. 82% of people feel unheard, undervalued and misunderstood in the workplace. Do you think leaders see the data and think “that’s not me – I’m not that boss they don’t want to work for? What changes do you think need to happen?
Nicholas Fernandes: I think leaders need to re-learn how to connect with their employees. “82% of people feel unheard or undervalued…” that comes down to communication. I know it’s hard to connect with every employee you work with firsthand but that doesn’t mean you should be cold with them. Simple recognition of positive reinforcement can go a long way, trying to be more relatable helps too, it shows them that you are part of their team and not the team that’s against them.
On a lighter note, if you had the ability to pick any business superpower, what would it be and how would you put it into practice?
Nicholas Fernandes: My choice of business superpower would be the ability to connect with others because at the end of the day that’s what gets people to do things for another person because they have a personal connection with you. It also helps a business to be able to connect with their customers, which in check converts to more sales and builds brand reputation/trust.
What does “success” in 2022 mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Nicholas Fernandes: Success at my personal and business level is being able to give back to the community and make a significant impact. We already started this year with a massive donation to an all-women’s shelter and we have another coming up this summer and that to me is “Success” The more we grow as a company the bigger the impact we can have in helping and reshaping the community.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Nicholas Fernandes for taking the time to do this interview and share his knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Nicholas Fernandes or his company, you can do it through his – Linkedin Page
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