Ciara Lewin

Sustainability has become a business approach for creating a long-term value by taking different ways into consideration in which any given organization can perform, based on the ecological, social, and economic factors of the environment. Industries may bring several harmful consequences to the environment. So, leaders are choosing to optimize their processes to promote success and sustainability at the same time.

Elite Precision Consulting, headed by Ciara Lewin, has taken the responsibility of standing beside every company that is in the midst of this transformation.

The Beginning

The company was founded 17 years ago to support healthcare executives and physicians to align their operations with the goals of their companies. With an emphasis on helping to reduce the burden of running successful and quality medical offices, the company was at the forefront of healthcare business consulting and innovative strategies. After many years of serving alongside the healthcare providers and organizations, a need arose to intervene with their primary source of challenges, that is---offshore vendor management. The methodologies in place with outsourcing businesses and, sometimes, clinical operations required a special level of expertise, something that Ciara seemed to possess abundantly.

Elite Data Hub focuses on helping Indian companies develop strategies internally to better compete in the outsourcing sector. From business development, quality assurance measures, risk management, and better output for their US clientele, the company quickly solved the problems that burdened several US partners. Over the past decade, Ciara has continued to evolve these strategies by further expanding into Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, Ghana, and Nigeria, all with a similar focus on helping companies become stronger and more sustainable. With hundreds of employees and interns working globally within the Elite companies, Ciara believes that this is only the beginning of ensuring better companies, better communities, and better legacies for centuries to come.

An Envisioned Leader

Ciara Lewin, the Founder of Elite Precision Consulting, is a business owner with a strong entrepreneurial spirit. From starting her own business at the age of 10 to scaling her companies across eight countries and counting, the skies are just the beginning in her eyes. As a CEO, her focus is to bring vision to her teams and ensure the operations are seamlessly in line with the client’s goals.

Ciara Lewin has advanced skills in executing. Ciara and her team aided and guided executives on how to select, vet, manage and facilitate their offshore vendors to ensure optimal success for nearly two decades now. Throughout the years, Elite Precision shined light on the opportunities that existed, but never capitalized on within the outsourcing space, which is where Elite Data Hub and soon Elite Africa came into existence.

But being the visionary does not mean being hands-off. From working with more than 100 interns across two countries to hand-picking management leaders within the companies, Ciara balances her time in ensuring that the company can remain competitive, innovative, light, and airy. She says, "Working in a stress-free yet thriving environment is my ultimate goal for my team. We want people to thrive and truly find peace and opportunities within our companies."

Working with her teams starts from having video calls upon new hire orientations to hosting monthly meetings across all countries where the vision can be reiterated, and praise reports that are shared by the team members who are making an impact in their departments. This approach has helped foster trust and loyalty amongst the teams and allows every employee to feel just as comfortable with their team leads as they do with their CEO.

Celebrating Small Steps to Achieve Big Goals

As a young business owner, the biggest experience that Ciara encountered was when she was bidding for a large IT project, worth over US$4 million. For experienced leaders, this might be a small feat, but as a young entrepreneur and someone who had only moderate experience in the project, she knew that this was going to be a challenge worth going for.

Weeks upon weeks of research, after collaborating with 4 countries, ensuring proper quality measures were in place, and then leading a 6-hour client meeting on the details and intricacies of the project was one of the most invigorating experiences in her career. On the final days, as the other companies received the news that they were not chosen, Ciara was beginning to feel that this could become her big break!

On the last day when the announcement was made, Ciara and her team were in the Top two for being awarded the contract. She shares, "The feeling that you have knowing that you did your best and that whether you got the contract or not, you were proud of what you did, how you did it, and what you presented is what it’s all about."

When the announcement came in, the team got to know that the other company won, but it did not win without a fight. Realizing that her company achieved the second position after competing with one of the most influential and reputable IT and management consulting firms in the world was both an honour and a privilege. Ciara felt the sense of gratitude in her heart, and her teams realized that they could do anything, after coming that close on something in which they were not even highly experienced. This was a great moment for the company and one that cannot go without mention.

Challenges that Evoked Lessons Leearned

 Talking about the challenges, Ciara asserts that working with executives who strategically want to outsource but perceive un-managable risks is one of the biggest challenges. Furthermore, doing so in male-dominated industries and in countries where seeing a women leader, let alone a CEO, was extremely rare. “Working with people involves challenges. But additionally, the cultural nuances, language barriers, upbringing, education, work experiences, and then the general perceptions and biases, create a pool of chaos that must be carefully managed and streamlined to ensure a win-win for all parties,” she adds.

Once, Ciara was working with a company based in Africa, where her team saw the evident opportunities that exist where they could come in and help turn around the client’s business in no time. It was so obvious to Elite, yet not as apparent to the client. This is where she realized that integrity, patience, and diligence are imperative to ensure that the company could work with others at their level and at their pace

Other challenges that Elite Precision and the other growing companies faced were when the pandemic hit and more companies in India were seeking work to offset their financial declines. This brought great opportunities but also challenges because the demand for quality work was higher than ever and yet the company still needed to impact and maintain its integrity as a business. Elite Data Hub ended up productizing 85% of the services by starting its #Love4India movement, which allowed more companies to avail the products at a fraction of the cost. This initiative was exactly what was needed to help more companies and remain in line with the integrity of the business.

Hallmarks of a Successful Entrepreneur

Entrepreneurship seems to be a word thrown around a lot nowadays, but Ciara disagrees that many understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur. “It is not about how smart one can be, or how many resources they have, or even the capital one possesses; it is all about the mentality” claims Ciara.

One of the main attributes which she believes for an entrepreneur to acquire is resilience.  “While starting up, leaders have a plan as to how things will go and unfold. Yet with so many variables in place, they must be resilient to adapt and re-strategize their plans. There have been great visions that did not succeed because the visionary was so caught up with their way of doing things that they get in their own way” expresses Ciara. She strongly affirms that one should not try to control every aspect of their business, since it eventually takes the life out of the company.

Ciara encourages to use different ideas, backgrounds and to thrive off creativity. As the economy changes, several new industries are emerging. She reflects that at times leaders may see themselves at the top of the mountain, overlooking all the successes and accomplishments, but in reality, they are still in the valley. Explaining her statement she says, “Entrepreneurs must not get too side-tracked on the fact that they are not at their peak. They should change their perspective and realize the value of being where they are. In the valley, they can see greater things, greater opportunities and everything looks grand. If they approach it with the right view, they will be at peace in every stage of the journey and can celebrate every accomplishment and failure”.

Apart from all the mentioned qualities, Ciara also believes that an ideal entrepreneur must also have effective communication, discipline and grit.

Preaching Self-Sustainability by Assisting a Proper Mentorship

 Ciara says that one of the biggest ways by which the company is making a difference in the industry as it deals with business consulting and effective outsourcing is the capacity of truly listening to the needs of the companies and countries and embracing the women leaders who are seeking mentorship in business. Every company has its challenges and many consultants try to fit their process and framework into their clients, whereas, Elite Precision approaches it differently.

The team assesses the companies from a non-biased, non-judgemental eye and tailors a framework for them. The company restricts in over-promising when it sees the client is still in the infancy stage with their business and has low self-confidence. Being transparent and honest are the pillars that allow clients to be self-sustaining. During the first meetings and engagements, the clients are informed that Elite Precision does not want to be hired on a long-term basis. The company wants its clients to learn from the provided solutions and take ownership of their own company so that they can manage and sustain it without any help in the future. Ciara mentions that self-sustainability is very important. When she walks into a client’s office, she wants them to be able to take care of themselves and not feel like everything will fail.

A Future Filled with Technological Adoption

Ciara realizes how easily companies can be left behind if they do not adapt to the growing technology in the outsourcing and management consulting sectors.

For Elite and its companies, the team is eager to see what the future holds while also ensuring that they can be riding the waves along the way. The clients are aware of the fact that Elite Precision is forever a learner. The company leaders are mandated to read books, attend trainings, and disseminate knowledge to the teams. As the visionary, Ciara has learned to share and never hold back information from her teams. With this approach, it will be easy to implement new and fresh ideas from any person in the company and create an environment of new beginnings every day.

Words of Wisdom for the Next-Gen Women Entrepreneurs

Ciara advises the aspiring women entrepreneurs to believe that they can do it, whether they are single moms, married, college graduates, or high school dropouts, they all have the vision, wisdom, and unlimited power. She adds, “There is a reason why women carry babies in their bodies for 9 months, it is because women have the strength to do it and no matter what happens they know that they will protect what is birthed from them. Business is also the same. The blood, sweat, tears, and laughs that one experiences from the companies are all a part of the journey. No one has to feel like they have no skills because it is easy to find people who can fill the gaps in the company. Women do not have to feel like they need to know everything because they don’t”.

She affirms, "You just need to start, celebrate the progress and enjoy the journey. And before you know it, you’ll be at that place you dreamed about, wondering what’s next!"