Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1340743
6 INTERVIEW 18.2.2021 Give me some background about yourself and your professional career. I graduated as a Mechanical Engineer in 1995 and after a short spell with the local utility provider, I entered the man- ufacturing world, taking on various Pro- duction, Quality Assurance and General Management roles within organisations operating in the furniture, food, elec- tronics, and plastics industries. After 13 years in manufacturing, I joined Tuning Fork Ltd in 2008 as Senior Projects Manager where I was respon- sible for executing client assignments directly dealing with process improve- ment, re-engineering, and environmen- tal management. In 2011, I became Director and Senior Partner and a year later I completed a three-year MBA with Henley Business School. What led you to establish Tuning Fork Advisory? How did the company grow? In 2001, Ing Joseph Caruana estab- lished Tuning Fork, focusing on business optimisation opportunities at clients. I joined the company in 2008. Over the years, we grew organically, focusing on pre-defined key result areas and estab- lished business pillars. Tuning Fork is a learning organisation and deeply people-centred. This is a mainstay of our core values and we be- lieve that the key to our success always came from strong leadership and a peo- ple-enabled culture that sought diversity in competence, experience, and charac- ter. Today, 10 high-calibre professionals constitute Tuning Fork and are ready for the next wave of growth as a result of this acquisition. What is Tuning Fork's unique selling points in your opinion? The past 14 years have taught me that the biggest difficulty faced by company leaders and their people is implementing changes (incremental or radical). This is where our niche lies and prospers. We do not simply present reports or give presentations expecting the client to im- plement the changes on auto-pilot. Cli- ents expect pragmatic solutions from us. We are firm believers in the process and in the people, driving the manage- ment of change, hand holding the people during this challenging time of transi- tion after assessing organisations objec- tively, listening to them and mapping the way forward. Having a strategy is not enough. Strate- gy needs clear objectives, plans, resourc- es and effective implementation. We help clients optimise their businesses from concept to execution. The devil is in the detail and so is success. What are the main areas that businesses are not fulfilling and that you can help them with? Nowadays, businesses are inundated with exigent requirements from various interested parties (EU, authorities, cor- porate and internal). Trying to manage all these areas is indeed taxing and by time, most initiatives fizzle out due to lacking resources and change manage- Consolidating towards sustainable growth "People want solutions that work. Business advice and recommendations are simply not enough. Nowadays businesses expect trustworthy hand-holding during times of change to truly take out the value they need and want. Tuning Fork's boutique approach is positioned to do precisely that," says ING JAMES SAMMUT. e company has recently been acquired by business advisory company NOUV and the merging of ideas and service offering makes the future very exciting PAUL COCKS