Spotlight on Sagarika Sahoo, Managing Director, COMMERCE CONNECT

Sagarika Sahoo shares her journey to become an award winning serial enrepreneur.

SPOTLIGHTS & INTERVIEWS

Sagarika Sahoo

10/19/20266 min read

Tell us about yourself and your professional journey.

My journey has been shaped by a passion for connecting people, ideas, and opportunities. With over 28 years of experience across the public and private sectors, I have had the opportunity to work across different industries, markets, and business environments.

A decade of experience with semi-government organisations such as Dubai Ports (DP World) and Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC Authority) gave me valuable insights into how business ecosystems operate, while my entrepreneurial journey allowed me to turn those insights into practical opportunities.

Today, as Managing Director of Commerce Connect, I am an award-winning serial entrepreneur who focusses on helping businesses build meaningful partnerships, enter new markets, strengthen their brands, and grow beyond geographical boundaries for the last 12 years.

You describe yourself as an international business strategist. What does that mean in practice and what makes Commerce Connect different from other business consultancies?

For me, international business strategy is about understanding how different markets operate, what motivates decision-makers, and where genuine opportunities for collaborations exist. A successful strategy cannot simply be copied from one country to another. It requires an understanding of local business culture, government and local regulations, customer expectations, and the people who influence decisions.

Working with high-growth markets of Africa, Indian sub-continent and Middle East markets, my role is to help businesses navigate these differences, identify the right entry points, and developrelationships that can support sustainable growth.

I would say Commerce Connect’s strength and ability is to connect strategy with execution. We don't look at a business challenge in isolation. A company may need market-entry advice, but it may also need the right introductions, a stronger brand, a local partner, or a platform to showcase its capabilities. Commerce Connect brings these elements together through an integrated approach. We work across business advisory, international trade and investment,events and exhibitions, branding and marketing, and learning and development. Our focus is on building relationships that translate into real business opportunities, rather than simply delivering a service and moving on.

What are the biggest people-related challenges facing businesses today?

One of the key challenges is ensuring that workforce capabilities keep pace with the speed of business transformation. Technology, changing customer expectations, and international competition are reshaping the skills organisations need.

At the same time, businesses must focus on employee engagement, leadership capability, retention, and creating a sense of purpose at work. Attracting talent is only one part of the equation; retaining and developing that talent is equally important.

I believe organisations need to take a more integrated approach to people management, aligning recruitment, development, performance, and succession planning with their long-term business strategy. One major crucial element for all is the workplace is to stay curious, remain adaptable, and develop an understanding of the business beyond their immediate area of responsibility. Please do not underestimate the value of integrity. Professional credibility is built over time through consistency, accountability, and the way one treats people.

From your experience supporting businesses across international markets, how can HR leaders prepare their people for expansion, particularly when working across different cultures?

The UAE is a powerful example of how people from different nationalities, cultures, and professional backgrounds can come together to achieve a common vision. Having worked across international markets, I believe this diversity is not just a workforce characteristic; it is astrategic advantage that organisations must learn to harness.

For HR leaders, the challenge is to create a workplace where people do more than work together - they learn from one another, grow together, and see a future for themselves within the organisation. Cultural awareness, adaptability, and respect for different ways of communicating and making decisions are essential, particularly for businesses looking to expand into international markets.

Equally important is succession planning. Businesses often focus on hiring the right talent for today, but how many are actively preparing their leaders for tomorrow? Organisations need to identify potential leaders early, invest in their development, and give them opportunities to take on greater responsibilities. People are more likely to invest in an organisation when they can see a future within it. And leaders must lead by example - demonstrating integrity, accountability, and a commitment to continuous learning. When employees see their leaders practising these values, leadership becomes something they can aspire to, not simply a position they hope to attain.I strongly believe that learning and development should never be a one-time exercise. It must evolve with the individual, the organisation, and the market. Through mentoring, cross-cultural collaboration, practical training, and exposure to new opportunities, businesses can build the confidence and capabilities their people need to progress.

Ultimately, sustainable business growth is about building an organisation that can thrive beyond its current leadership. That means retaining knowledge, developing future leaders, creating meaningful career pathways, and empowering people to take ownership. When businesses invest in growing their people, they are not just building stronger teams; they are building a stronger future for the organisation.

Commerce Connect includes learning and development among its services. Could you share an example of how you identified a capability gap, addressed it through learning, and assessed the difference it made to the business?

At Commerce Connect, I believe learning and development must be driven by business needs rather than training for the sake of training. The first step is to identify where a gap exists between the capabilities a business currently has and what it needs to achieve its objectives.For example, when supporting businesses looking to strengthen their market presence or expand into new markets, one of the areas I focus on is the ability to identify opportunities, communicate value effectively, and build the right business relationships. A company may have a strong product or service, but its team may need further development in market intelligence, pitching, cross-cultural communication, or business development.

One of our projects that comes to mind is that of an interior fit-out company in Dubai that was experiencing rapid growth. As the business expanded, it became clear that its line managers needed to be developed as future directors. While they had strong technical and operational knowledge, they had limited experience in leading larger teams, managing complex situations, and taking ownership of decisions at a more strategic level.

The capability gap was not in their technical expertise, but in their readiness to lead at the next level. We addressed this through targeted leadership skills training, supported by practical demonstrations of case management, escalation procedures, and decision-making processes. The focus was on helping managers understand not just what decisions to make, but when to act independently, when to escalate, and how to manage people and situations effectively.

My approach was to connect learning directly to the realities of their business, using practical scenarios rather than relying solely on theory. To assess the impact, we looked at measurable indicators such as the number of managers ready for promotion, the time taken to resolve escalated cases, the percentage of issues resolved independently by line managers, and improvements in team productivity and project delivery.For me, the key outcome of such an intervention is building a stronger internal leadership pipeline. When line managers are equipped to take on greater responsibility, businesses are

better positioned to scale, delegate effectively, and reduce their dependence on a few senior decision-makers. It reinforced my belief that learning and development should be aligned with business growth and introduced before capability gaps become barriers to expansion.

What is your vision for Commerce Connect, and what impact would you like to create?

My vision for Commerce Connect is to continue evolving with the changing business landscape, connecting people, businesses, and institutions to meaningful opportunities across the UAE and international markets. As entrepreneurs, it is important to look at opportunities through a strategic lens, recognise their potential, and have the courage to act on them rather than let them pass by.

Sometimes, the next phase of growth comes from recognising possibilities in places or sectors we may not have previously considered. My interest in sustainability led me to study the subject at Stanford University - Graduate School of Business in 2025, further strengthening my belief that business growth and long-term impact must go hand in hand. I also believe that learning and development is a constant journey; there is always something new to learn, explore, and apply.

Now based in Ras Al Khaimah I see exciting opportunities emerging across different sectors, including Insurance, where I am keen to explore new avenues for business growth and collaboration. My recent experience in Kuala Lumpur and engagement with Southeast Asian markets have also reinforced my interest in connecting businesses across borders and building meaningful international partnerships.

Alongside these commercial ambitions, I remain committed to mentoring women entrepreneurs and helping them build confidence, identify opportunities, and grow sustainable businesses.

Ultimately, I want Commerce Connect to create value not just through commercial success, but

through the relationships we build, the people we empower, and the opportunities we help bring

to life

Contact Sagarika here

Sagarika’s profile linkedin.com/in/sagarikasahooofficial