High-Value Offshore Management Consulting – with Yoni Kozminski of MultiplyMii

In this week’s episode of the Outsource Accelerator Podcast, Derek speaks with Yoni Kozminski, the Co-Founder and CEO at both MultiplyMii and Escala. 

They go into the nature and services of each company and even discuss how outsourcing has impacted the e-commerce scene. 

MultiplyMii

Of his two business models, Yoni says that “they could very well plug into being the same business on paper. 

Escala can understand, fix, and build any business and make it more efficient through operational improvements, accountability, and organizational structure. MultiplyMii can staff it with highly-skilled, capable talent.” 

He largely attributes their separation to the market being “not ready to understand,” in his opinion. 

He begins by introducing MultiplyMii. 

“MultiplyMii is a Philippines-focused recruitment and payroll management solution, helping to empower businesses to grow their talent globally.” 

He recounts how quickly the business grew and the challenges of maintaining client expectations, especially regarding their managed services. 

“We grew from a team of zero to a little over a hundred in 18 months. And as a result of that, we had a lot of people building different functions and not talking to each other enough. I’m the CEO, so I hold myself accountable.” 

He tells of how they initially built the business in the “old world BPO” style, doing managed services and handling functions like healthcare and payroll before transitioning to a new system. 

“It wasn’t really working for our client base. [So] we made the shift to operating more in the recruitment style, with those value-added solutions on the back-end that were opt-in.

And I think that’s worked really well for us, at least from a job creation perspective.” 

Escala

Yoni also describes his other business, Escala.

“Escala is a process improvement management consultancy where we help systemize businesses for scale based on their people, processes, and technology. 

We’ve got about 40 management consultants [and] a lot come from the Big Four management consultancies. We’re really looking to empower small to medium businesses to run just like that of their Fortune 500 competitors.” 

He similarly details the challenges in establishing Escala’s business model. 

“We really struggled to sell in a management consultancy where the entire operation was Filipino talent interviewing businesses that were generating [up to] 250 million in revenue. 

We sort of reevaluated the model. And what came up is we had people pushing back and saying, ‘Can a Filipino really give me advice and direction on my business and how I can operate?’” 

While it took time, Escala eventually built a “demonstrable” level of experience and added value to many businesses. 

Outsourcing and the challenges of e-commerce

Yoni comments that e-commerce is a good fit for adopting offshoring. He thinks that many mature business owners are “missing out” on the opportunity. 

“They’re the ones who are likely running a much more meaningful business when it comes to sophistication and operation. And if they’re able to plug in remote talent into these already well-defined roles, I think they will see a lot more success.” 

The discussion then turns to the e-commerce industry and its new challenges. Yoni says that the traditional model has become outdated. 

“One, anyone can do it, it’s a lot more accessible. Two, you’re actually competing with a lot of Chinese sellers now that make up a significant portion of the Amazon ecosystem. 

And so it’s, how do you create that differentiation?”

He’s thus hopeful of offshoring and outsourcing becoming new standards to redefine the industry. 

A new generation of entrepreneurs

With offshoring and outsourcing becoming more accepted as a business solution, Yoni has hope for younger, future entrepreneurs. 

“All of these baby boomers are aging out of a lot of more locally-run businesses. 

There’s a massive opportunity that exists right now and into the future of actually acquiring these businesses and creating these efficiencies.” 

At the same time, he agrees with the sentiment that there is a rising trend of people starting businesses thinking it will be easy. Still, he believes that one’s dedication will determine results. 

“I do not by any stretch of the imagination suggest that it’s an easy thing to do. But if people are invested, [I] think that the opportunities present [themselves].”

He particularly mentions those running businesses similar to his that require process knowledge, documentation, systemization operation, and expertise in finding talent.  

My advice would be that these types of skill sets [are] things that you really need to build into your arsenal.”

Yoni can be reached via the MultiplyMii and Escala websites. He is also active on LinkedIn for more direct messaging.