Edward Sawiris Banayoti: An Epitome of Ethical Leadership

Innovation is key to success. If you do not innovate in this new world, your business simply cannot prevail. Everyone’s approach towards it differs and to have a streamlined mindset for doing something new, always results in something great.
In these difficult times, coming up with various new ideas to mitigate risks have become paramount. To have differentiated approach is the need of the hour now and building various strategies to safeguard against such a peril is going to be the next step in evolution for businesses across the world.
“How I approach innovation is simple, it is focused around my people,” says Edward Sawiris Banayoti, CEO of Defence Unlimited International. His peers and employees help him in keeping up with the changing times. He believes that people who present excellent innovative ideas deserve to be heard and their ideas should be inculcated in the business wherever possible.
He was motivated to enter in the defence industry due to various investment options that were presented to him by his people. Edward was intrigued with different approach that came his way and decided to get involved with products and services related to the defence sector.
“As the frontrunner of Defence Unlimited International (DUI), I find that my roles and responsibilities are to be agile and adaptable to the changing landscapes around the world,” Edward shares. He believes in leading from the front and not from behind a desk.
Impactful leadership for him is motivating his team to do well while also taking a vested interest in their own development. His consistent efforts and inputs in building a strong foundation in his relationships have enabled him to attain great trust amongst the people he works with. “I’ve done this so many times with my Chief of Staff and even he has duplicated what I’ve done with me – we support each other,” states Edward.
Ceaseless Perseverance
Defence Unlimited International offers security and advisory services to a variety of different clients including governments around the world and companies of various sizes. It is a brokerage of military assets and offer systems and solutions of all sizes ranging from simplicity to complexity. The company specializes in providing these solutions and services after gaining insightful understanding related to clients’ needs. It covers all aspects of their requirements. This has evidently placed them on the globe’s business graph successfully.
As there are obstacles in every business, the company also had faced many challenges. According to Edward, the key challenge that is going to present itself in the coming days is how our world will look like after COVID-19 and the path back to ‘normality’. It is definitely going to be a long way forward for everyone.
He opines, “I see that the biggest challenge will not only be limited to the business community but for the general public at large. We are taking precautionary measures that are necessary to mitigate the impacts, but we are resilient, and we need to move on – that is how we would be able to deal with COVID-19.” He considers Covid-19 to be his biggest challenge in his entire career.
The ‘Driving’ Force 
Some of the contractors are working on projects on site by maintaining utmost level of safety and security in terms of healthcare standards, but most of the people in the company are working from home right now. The process has slowed down the pace of various projects, but the clients still believe in DUI’s team to deliver. “Where there is a problem, we find a solution and we deliver, because that is what our clients expect from us.” Edward informs.
Edward expects the lockdowns to be streamlined and businesses to experience some normality. However, having said that, he also wishes for a proper roadmap that can help people to safely alight from the current situation into a more strategically normalized one.
Advising other entrepreneurs, he shares, “Always be resilient and be confident in what you do. People on the other side of table want someone who is confident in what they do; but you going to get a lot of no’s going forward.” He also encourages his people to deal with the circumstances that are beyond anyone’s control as it will help them in bouncing back quickly from any adversity.
In the future, Edward will be working towards more expansion and more engagement around the world. He is in the process of on-boarding new talent into his team that can spearhead some of the upcoming projects. “The times may be changing, but it has never been a more exciting time to be a part of the Defence Unlimited International team,” he concludes.