Aitken Spence: The Sri Lankan Blue Chip Conglomerate

Recognized by Forbes as one of the most successful publicly traded companies, Aitken Spence PLC definitely has a notable history and continuing legacy. Operating in the South Asia, Middle East, Africa, and the Pacific, it does not focus on just one industry—it has major interests in travel, hotels, maritime services, power generation, and logistics. The conglomerate also has significant global presence in financial services, plantations, IT, printing, BPO/KPO, elevator agency services, property development, and garments industries. It has also been listed in the Colombo Stock Exchange since 1983.

The roots of Aitken Spence can be traced back to the Wilson & Archer Partnership of the 1830s. However, it began to adopt its current form after the formal partnership agreement between Patrick Gordon Spence and Thomas Clark was signed. The two were successful Scottish merchants and shipping agents. The agreement was signed on September 1 1868 in Galle, and this marked the establishment of Clark Spence & Co.

At that time, Clark Spence & Co.’s trading department included exports of gems, hides, natural vein graphite, sapanwood, coffee, ebony, coconut oil, and citronella oil, as well as coir yarn, arrack, and bristle fiber. They did business with clients in the United Kingdom, USA, Continental Europe, and Australia. Meanwhile, the company also imported Burmese rice and coal for steamer ship bunkers.

On April 5, 1871, Patrick Gordon Spence secured Clark Spence & Co., making it the sole agent of Lloyd’s of London in Ceylon. The company has to partner with Britton, Aitken & Co. so that it can service the Agency for the Lloyd’s of London for the Port of Colombo, and to open an office there. On New Year’s Day of 1973, E.C. Britton separated from Aitken & Co. This resulted to Patrick Gordon Spence, Edward Aitken, and S.R. Aitken’s coming together to form what is now known as Aitken Spence (Aitken Spence & Co.).

Kevin Craffey: A Contracting Empire Creating New Jobs and Opportunities

As the owner and president of K & J Interiors, Inc.; KJ Realty Trust Corporation and Court Street Trust Corporation; Mountain View Development, and Craffey & Co. Builders Inc., Kevin Craffey has garnered significant experience in creating the kinds of opportunities he once took as a young apprentice carpenter. Craffey & Co. alone has done business in 45 states, specializing in mall renovation and additions, as well as the development of retail and "big box" construction projects, while K& J Interiors has become well-known in Massachusetts as the top company in the field of carpentry subcontrators. Thanks to Kevin Craffey's leadership, more than 500 individuals have been given the chance to learn the trade, often within the welcoming arms of local unions.

Kevin Craffey, who comes from a Boston family with a history of excellence in carpentry and dedication to unions, began his own career as an apprentice at Cape Cod Lathing and Plastering, Inc., in Dartmouth, Massachusetts. While serving the company for five years, eventually rising to the position of foreman, he also pursued his journeyman certificate and carpentry journeyman certificate, educational opportunities offered by the Massachusetts Carpenters Training Center and Associated General Contractors of America, respectively. After leaving Cape Cod Lathing to serve as a superintendent and carpenter steward at Quinn Construction in Brockton, Massachusetts, Kevin Craffey also sought out instruction in business administration at the Brockton, Massachusetts-based Massasoit Community College, information he later invested in his own business as he formed his first company, K & J Interiors, in 1988.

In the quarter century since he first followed the entrepreneurial spirit and became a business owner, Kevin Craffey has empowered hundreds of employees to follow in his footsteps. Moreover, his other enterprises have provided unique opportunities to students of the hospitality industry; through Mountain View Development, a company he founded to restore a 200-room hotel in New Hampshire's White Mountains, he worked with the Town of Whitefield to create an internship program that received significant praise from education leaders across the country. Kevin Craffey has succeeded where other entrepreneurs have failed through the recognition of a key business truism: industry succeeds when it empowers employees to seek their own success.

Portfolio Recovery Associates: Buying Consumer Debt for Almost Two Decades

Many banks and financial institutions whose in-house debt collections department fails to recover delinquent receivables write them off their books. However, the story doesn’t end there. In fact, this is just the beginning of another story, stories of companies like Portfolio Recovery Associates.

Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) is in the business of buying these written off debts and attempts their own collection strategies to recover the amounts owed. The company was founded in 1996 and now has operations in the United Kingdom.

Aside from their core business of debt collections, the company also provides other services like asset recovery. This is most common in cases where a consumer takes out an auto loan and defaults on that loan. The company is tasked to locate and recover the vehicle or any other collateral.
CEO Steve Fredrickson leads PRA and the company has 3,200 employees in the United States and United Kingdom.

LeapFrog Enterprises: Making Learning and Childhood More Fun

Since its establishment, the LeapFrog brand has become a household name among parents and guardians who wish to provide their children with tools and materials that will make learning in their young years more fun and easier. LeapFrog Enterprises is an educational entertainment company founded in 1995. Based in Emeryville, California, the company designs, develops, markets, and distributes technology-based learning products and content. Their products are specially made for use of young children, from infancy to grade school age.

LeapFrog was established by Robert Lally and Michael Wood. The company has developed a wide range of learning platforms that come with respective software titles that cover subjects like reading, phonics, writing, and math. The concept began when Wood was looking for an educational toy for his son. At that time, he was working at a law firm as an attorney. He did not find anything and thus, he thought of developing a prototype, performed cost analysis, and worked to ensure that the final product can be sold at a reasonable price.

In 1994, Wood took his prototype to Dr. Robert Calfee, an education professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. With Dr. Calfee’s feedback, Wood refined the product and in 1995, LeapFrog introduced its first educational toy, the LeapFrog Phonics Desk. After the company has raised $800,000 for funding to launch the company, the costs were prohibitive. However, the company still pursued to develop their second toy.

In early 1997, LeapFrog had distribution operations in more than 10 countries, with a number of major clients across the United States. The company acquired the services of Brad Crawford who previously worked for Little Tikes. He was hired to oversee manufacturing and engineering. Later that year, the business won backing of Knowledge Universe. Since then, LeapFrog operated as a division of Knowledge Kids Enterprise, Knowledge Universe’s subsidiary.

In 1998, LeapFrog acquired Explore Technologies Ltd. This acquisition led to the development of the prominent educational toy, LeapPad, which was launched in 1999. It quickly became the company’s flagship product. Until today, the company continues to improve and upgrade their creations, creating more technologically-advanced and child-friendly devices and producing better related content.

Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles: Blue Porcelain at Its Finest

Koninklijke Porceleyne Fles, popularly known around the world as Royal Delft, is one of the oldest manufacturers of blue earthenware products. The company can trace its roots all the way back to the 17th century when the company was established in Delft, Netherlands.

Royal Delft was one of the original 32 factories that manufactured blue earthenware products. Most of these factories closed shop by the end of the 19th century, mainly due to fierce competition by neighboring countries and the fact that many of the factories lacked innovation. However, Royal Delft was known for the exceptional quality of their products, thus the company survived, and is still in operation up to today.

When David Anthonisz founded the company in 1653, the original name was De Porceleyne Fles. In 1919, the Royal Family recognized the quality of workmanship of the company and added the word “Royal” to their name. Today, the company is known worldwide for their high-quality porcelain products.

AGCO: Everyone’s Reliable Agriculture Company

AGCO is an agricultural equipment manufacturer headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA. As a leader in its industry, the company is known for offering a full line of combines, tractors, hay tools, forage, sprayers, and tillage equipment. Their products are distributed by their over 3,100 independent dealers and distributors that perform business in 140 countries worldwide.

Although established in 1990, AGCO’s history can be traced way back to the mid-19th century. It has firmly established roots in the farm equipment manufacturing industry. The company is the product of Deutz-Allis’s buying out of Deutz-Allis North American operations from its parent corporation Klockner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD), the German company responsible for the agriculture equipment brand Deutz-Fahr. KHD acquired portions of Allis-Chalmers five years earlier and through this, AGCO became a worldwide agri machinery firm due to its market growth, cutting edge solutions, and strategic acquisitions.

The result of the said business moves was first called Gleaner-Allis Corporation until it was rearranged to Allis-Gleaner Corporation, thus, AGCO. Before the sellout to Deutz Allis, the design for the tractors and combines that the company offers were originally made by Allis-Chalmers. The tractors, which were called Deutz-Allis, were renamed to AGCO-Allis. Meanwhile, the combines took the brand name Gleaner. The Deutz-Allis brand continued in South America until 2001 when it was also eventually renamed to AGCO-Allis. In the same year, AGCO-Allis adopted the name AGCO in North America.

Over the years, the company has also acquired several other companies including Hesston Corporation in March 1991. In 1993, it acquired the North American distribution rights to Massey Ferguson. The following year, AGCO purchased McConnell Tractors. They also developed the line of articulated tractors Agcostar. Later in that year, they also acquired the Black Machine line of planters. The intelligent acquisitions went on and through this, the company was able to expand and maximize the business further.

As of late, the company continues as a global leader in providing high quality agricultural equipment. It is led by President and CEO Martin H. Richenhagen and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AGCO.

IntercontinentalExchange Inc.: An American Commodities Exchange

IntercontinentalExchange Inc. operates regulated exchanges as well as clearing houses for emissions, energy, agricultural, credit, equity index products and currency. The business is among the financial giants that hold their main office in Atlanta, Georgia.

They have offices in New York, Singapore, London, Winnipeg, Calgary, Washington D.C., Houston and in Chicago. The company offers their participants access to deep and liquid markets. In addition, they also provide services and technology that would allow a transparent view of the global markets and manage risk. The business has a presence in more than 70 countries and caters to the needs of end users in 120 countries. The company is also best known for being the first market to offer a single screen for both futures and OTC markets and for their millisecond trade execution times.

Not only is Intercontinental Exchange the home to more than half of the world’s crude oil and refined petroleum product futures, they also boast their 1,700 contracts for managing risks.

Invesco Ltd: Helping Investors Achieve Their Financial Goals

Several clients from 150 countries make use of the services that Invesco Ltd offers. As a global independent investment company, they have offices in 20 countries with more than 740 dedicated investment professionals to help investors reach their financial objectives.

The business got incorporated in Bermuda and is holding their main office in Atlanta, Georgia. It operates under the brand names Invesco, Powershares, WL Ross, Atlantic Trust and Invesco Perpetual. It is a component of S&P  500 and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol IVZ.

The company’s logo features the Ama Dablam, a mountain in the Himalayan mountain range of Nepal. They specifically chose this mountain as part of their logo as it symbolizes the company’s strength, longevity and stability. These three values are the core practice of Intentional Investing which represents the benefits their clients can get from them.

Invesco’s history goes back to 1935 as the company got incorporated in England and Wales as H. Lotery & Co. Ltd. it started with the vision to serve the global market for investment management. Through various acquisitions and mergers, the company has become what it is today, a multimillion investment management company. In 1997, the company adopted the name Amvescap after Invesco PLC merged with AIM Investments. It was in 2007 that the management decided to adopt the name Invesco again.

To support various financial objectives of their clientele, Invesco Ltd diversified their investment capabilities to include equity, balanced, alternative, fixed income and money market and diverse investment vehicles. Their offerings are further categorized to single-country, regional and global capabilities.

Not only is Invesco in the business to generate profit as the business also supports the Principles for Responsible Investments. They recognize the need for environmental, social and corporate governance. As of the end of August 2013, the company reported a total of $719.7 billion of assets under management.

SalesForce.com: Creating Software for Success

Behind the success of many modern day companies is a program or software that toils day and night, 365 days a year, performing duties that would take millions of man hours. Not known to many, SalesForce.com is the company that provides this type of software to some of the top global companies like Google.

Founded in 1999 by former Oracle Executive Marc Benioff, Frank Dominguez, Dave Moellenhoff, and Parker Harris, the company specializes in customer relationship management (CRM) products that help companies organize the work of their sales people.  Their CRM product line includes Force.com, The Sales Cloud, The Service Cloud, App Exchange, and Work.com, to name a few.

The company has its headquarters in San Francisco, California. In 2011, the company reported revenues of over $2.2 billion. SalesForce.com was named by Forbes as one of the most innovative companies in the United States, and listed by Fortune in the list of 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2013.

DreamWorks Animation: Creativity in Motion

How many companies would you know that offers free breakfast, lunch, and juice all day long? There aren’t that many and this strategy has taken DreamWorks Animation to the Fortune List of 100 Best Companies to Work For, for five straight years. In 2013, the company placed #12 on that list making it one of the most sought after companies by job seekers.

However, free breakfast and lunch are only small perks that their employees enjoy. What truly makes the company special for their employees is the culture that they built. To work for DreamWorks Animation is to have fun while being creative and innovative. The company fosters a culture of openness, creativity, and innovation.  Employees are encouraged to be not only creative but innovative as well.

DreamWorks Animation has its headquarters in Glendale, California. Steven Speilberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg founded the company in 1994. Their mission was to produce some of the greatest animation films of all time. This is a mission that they have accomplished from day one, starting with Antz.  The company has also produced some of the most popular animation film series like Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar.

When it comes to fostering a culture of creativity, the success of the company’s various animation series is proof of how the company values creativity. When it comes to proof of innovation, the company developed one of the best animation technologies called InTru3D. The technology was developed in cooperation with Intel.

The overall success of the company is amazing. In 2011, the company was reported revenues of over $706 million. Their animation series have generated over $11 billion over the years. Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of the company, claims that their success has been the result of the dedication and expertise of their employees. Their employees work out of the company’s two campuses - one in Glendale and the other at Redwood City, California.