Page 27 - OPA 2014

Outstanding Professional Award 2014

With its merger with Sanje Pvt Ltd and the addition of technological literacy, the company engages the youth through
mobile applications development and document management, computer education and prepare them as future global leaders
Lars and his team developed two more products – Enadoc, a in a technology-driven environment.
document imaging system, and Etikado, a mobile-only app that
helps organize photos through tags. In the Philippines, Tech One global empowered prisoners
in the School of Fine arts of Camp Sampaguita, New Bilibid
Moreover, drawing from Lars’ passion in photography, he Prison, Muntinlupa City to express themselves through
started ImagePerfekt, a photo retouching and image processing art. Lars and his wife, Michelle, donated art materials and
company. To form this service, he partnered with Cherie encouraged them to hone their skills by creating more artworks
Steinberg and Hedley Jones, one of the world’s most published and paintings. a small art collaboration was also organized
wedding and boudoir photographer. with the Muntinlupa inmates in 2013 with Iris Sidler, a Swiss
lawyer and artist.
To strengthen the ImagePerfekt service, Lars formed a
team of Filipino artists who worked on image retouching, image aside from education as its main corporate social
and color correction, and image selection for wedding photos, responsibility, Lars and his company participate in relief
portraits, boudoir photography, and photos of kids and pets. operations. Specifically in 2013, Lars and his wife received
This service is delivered from the office in the Philippines, where special recognition from the Philippine red Cross for their
it services clients all over the world. support during the aftermath of typhoon Yolanda.

Based in the Philippines, Lars continues to drive the business Lars now permanently reside in The Philippines with his
forward at Tech One global as Chief Executive Officer. He leads wife Micelle and two children amara Santana and aaron Matthew,
close to 500 employees at Tech One global in its offices in six while his older daughter amanda studies nursing in Denmark.
countries. Believing that the people can drive a business forward,
he gives guidance to the management teams of other locations in
the company while based in the Philippines. He also shares his
marketing expertise by being a hands-on manager to the marketing
team, which he formed after seeing the potential of Filipino talent.

More than 30 years of experience in building businesses document and information capture copmaty in the Middle Going into the tourism business
at 23 years old and just after two years of working, Lars East and africa. Document management giant, Dicom group, Having relocated to the Philippines, Lars recognized how
worked with his boss Mogens Merlin to establish Spaceworld, the saw Valuevad’s potential, and acquired it on 2004 to enter the special and beautiful the country is. Together with his partners
first Danish IT retailer. His business venture almost coincided Middle East market. He maintained the post as the Managing in Tech One global, he decided to invest and promote the
with the launch of the Disk Operating System (DOS) in 1986. Director for the company until the acquisition was completed Philippines as a tourist destination and established ananya
Space World and Merlin was later acquired by FDB/COOP. in 2008. Farms, an eco-retreat and wellness resort located in Cavite.

The venture was a stepping stone to a career in IT and Driving the business at Tech One Global The resort embraces nature and hopes to sustain it with
less than two years after he established Spaceworld, he moved In 2003, Lars, together with his partners Wasantha green architecture and natural resource management. For the
to Kodak a/S as a Business Consultant, where he implemented Weerakoone, rakesh Wahi, and ali Bagash, founded Tech farm to be truly sustainable, Lars’ vision is for it to provide
Kodak-based enterprise document management solutions for Distribution, which rapidly developed to become the leading livelihood to the local community.
the commercial and industrial market segments. value-added Microsoft distributor. For five years, the company
was led by Wasantha, while Lars served as director since he The farm will feature several individual luxury villas with
Lars was promoted as Solutions Marketing Manager for worked full time in Valuevad. During these five years, the five-star eco-friendly facilities. Moreover, the farm features
the airline industry after four years to handle the Europe, Middle company grew to having more diverse services outside software ayurveda Wellness programs, a holistic wellness program.
East and africa (EMEa) region. In 1995 Lars relocated to Dubai licensing and distribution and included services such as IT
to take up a position as the Business Manager for Business learning and certification, software development, document Giving back to the community
Imaging Systems at Kodak Near East Inc, here he was given the imaging, and professional photo retouching. In 2008, Lars Following his belief in developing people, Lars and his team
task to increase the Document Imaging channel sales throughout started to work full time at Tech One global. at Tech One global have a vision of giving back to the community
Middle East and africa. through education. The team’s special mission is to equip the
In 2009, after seeing growth over a span of six years, Tech youth with IT skills especially in developing countries in asia.
at the end of 1998, during the peak of his 10-year career in Distribution was rebranded to Tech One global.
Kodak he left to co-founded Valuevad, an information capture In Sri Lanka, Lars and his company have taken steps
technology company in based in Dubai. He considers this move In 2014, a major merger with document management in improving education of the youth by partnering with the
as the biggest free fall and upturn of his business career. solutions company Sanje Pvt Ltd has allowed Tech One Ministry of Education, Microsoft and adobe. The company has
global to expand its products and services offerings to launched a number of IT trainings for young people, where over
His career gamble eventually paid off, as after five offer software trainings, systems development, and mobile the past six years, more than 10,000 academic licenses were
years of leading the company, Valuevad became the leading applications development. given across the country. With a vision to improve Sri Lanka’s

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