A visionary leader with over two decades of experience, Loukas Tzitzis has been working on bringing to market transformative solutions built on cutting edge tech in AI, Cybersecurity, Fintech, Medtech, Utilities, ICT, and blockchain.
With a leadership approach that blends strategic foresight, business and technology, and cultural awareness, Loukas is committed to mentoring, collaborating, and adaptability in the industry.
The Beginning
We started the session by asking, “Can you tell us about your professional journey and what led you to your current role?”
“My career began over 25 years ago when I joined British Telecom (BT) at a time that the transformative potential of technology for business and society was just being realized. Over the next 10 years, I took on increasingly senior roles in multiple countries, which deepened my understanding of succeeding in small to mid-size businesses across different cultures. This prepared me for my first executive role as the COO of a 300M+ EUR Digital holding based in Austria that had multiple companies in EMEA, APAC, and the US. It was during that time that I got involved with the early days of Fintech, had the opportunity to be involved with some truly disruptive startups that were starting to scale in multiple countries and importantly, I got my first CEO role. I cannot believe that it is already a decade since those times!
Loukas Tzitzis added, “In the words of my mentor Dejan Popovic, that is when I hit my ‘gold spot’ in personal and professional development, with roles at Nexign, Amdocs, Tech Mahindra, and Gentrack leading to industry recognition. My focus on Medtech, Digital Platforms and Tokenisation brought me to Estonia, my 15th country in 30 years and the journey continues.”
Marking the right choices: Leadership in Tech and People
Eager to learn how Loukas decides on the next technologies to be involved in, we asked “What is your framework for selecting the right technology and business to be involved in?”
“This is all about what I call “innovation on the money” and getting involved with “horizontal technologies” that can disrupt almost any vertical market. There is obviously no magic wand and if anything, I have had the tendency to be involved with the right technologies am bit too early, but the important thing is to not be too early or too late. Take for example Cyber Physical systems (CPS) and Cybersecurity! The TRITON attack happened in 2017, and I recall giving an interview about IioT and Cybersecurity in CPS in the Middle East in 2019.
Yet, I think it is only now that we can truly say that we have reached the necessary “critical mass” in the whole ecosystem for the importance of CTEM in CPS to come front and centre!
There are projections of 75 billion Cyber Physical System (CPS)-connected devices being used primarily in Oil & Gas, Healthcare, Financial Services, Smart Cities by the end of 2025. Combine that with the introduction – as well as threat by malicious actors – of AI capabilities and one can immediately see that we are about to enter an unprecedented era of intelligence as well as potentially being on the precipice of tremendous risks as AI increasingly takes over critical workloads of the economy. The next phase of AI-powered CPS evolution will bring in a range of improvements based on Edge AI, Intelligent decision-making and automation, Collaborative robots and more. This development not only requires enhanced CTEM capabilities but also demands platforms that unify operational risk management, compliance, and real-time automation to drive not just security but operational excellence. This is the time when innovation is coming on the money!”
On his leadership style, Loukas reflected, “I expect a lot, but if you’re a team player, proficient in your domain, deliver results, and bring the right energy, I’ll fully support your growth. My principles include transparency, empowerment, mentorship, accountability, adaptability, and collaboration. Leaders must develop people and proactively address change. Building high-performing teams often requires tough decisions, and ‘defining and communicating’ is key—sharp, simple, and clear. Leaders must balance empathy and friendliness, handle conflict with care, and embrace ‘growing pains’ for progress. To drive innovation, I foster a culture of curiosity, ownership, and ‘innovation on the money.’ Leadership is like a mixed athletics event, alternating between sprints and marathons—so take care of yourself.”
Impact Of AI In Transforming Businesses
AI has been reshaping businesses across industries. So, we asked, “What role do you see artificial intelligence or technology playing in industries?”
Loukas Tzitzis reflected, “There is no segment of the economy that will not be disrupted by AI! Beyond what I mentioned before in CPS and Cybersecurity, my recent dealings in MedTech showed me the tremendous potential of AI to revolutionise diagnostics, personalised medicine, patient care and drug discovery. There are also several use-cases in Transportation, Manufacturing, education and many more.
Not many people realise the astounding level of automation and machine learning that is being employed even as we speak today in trading, fraud detection and customer service! I am personally particularly fascinated by the emerging potential of AI agents in financial services. What is truly exciting is that we are very close to AI agents becoming self-reliant and independent “robo-advisors”, taking algorithmic trading to the next level by powering an increasing level of independence from humans and intermediaries, improving predictive modelling for volatile assets such as cryptocurrencies and thus becoming a critical co-driver of decentralisation in finance platforms together with blockchain!
Obviously, we need to ensure that the right level of risk mitigation and issues management is put in place. For example, everyone is becoming aware of the fact that we need to remove the divide between developed and developing nations, something which the AI For Developing Nations Forum, an organisation which I am a proud member of, is working towards. We also need to increase the level of transparency in AI models that are handling “mission-critical” applications as well as remove the bias and discrimination introduced by historical data in training AI models. Regulation and compliance are also essential, but we need to ensure that there is a balance between these aspects and the potential of AI to transform businesses and societies. The list is non-exhaustive, this is just a small snapshot of all the aspects we need to ensure we consider as AI benefits continue to be delivered.
Ultimately, we need to remember that we should never lose a supervisory capability over such systems as the responsibility is on us to deliver the benefits and manage the risks and issues.
But we need to be honest with ourselves on one more critical point: AI will affect jobs in every segment. As far as I am concerned, this is not something to be afraid of! Humanity has managed to evolve through technology and industrial revolutions in the past and it will manage now. The onus is on each one of us to be prepared but at the same time, governments, companies and public-private partnerships have a part to play in reskilling today’s workforce for the future as well as set the education curriculum for the next generations.
Self-driving cars are probably a good example of how this will happen. This is not some long-term futuristic outlook: Waymo, Tesla, Zoox, NVIDIA, Pony.AI, and 23 other companies by my count are already active in this space and the city of Wuhan in China is a prime large-scale example that such a deployed driverless fleet can work. Multiple cities in the USA could be a part of the next adoption wave in the upcoming months.
There are a ton of other use cases for customer matching, proactive maintenance, AI-powered customer support, and much more. Ultimately, make no mistake; AI has the potential to totally change our lives, and the only question is a matter of time, regulation, and bringing the cost base down to a level that allows mass adoption and usage of AI.”
Worth-Sharing Business Triumphs
We further asked, “What has been your business’s biggest achievement to date?”
Loukas Tzitzis responded, “I have been blessed to have enjoyed successes in different companies and different geographies. However, I always say that while awards and memories are nice, living in the past does not really matter! Only the present and the future matter.
In that respect, I think it is worth highlighting my CEO & Chairman tenure at FORUS International. For starters, the ability of such a young company to launch & operate seamlessly in three countries and serve a region with six million customers is something to truly be proud of. The digital mobility platform is already supporting services beyond ride-hailing, such as delivery and P2P car sharing, and it has proven its scalability by crossing another 8-digit ‘task request’ threshold.
For the 2024 financial year, the company experienced significant cash flow improvement as well as top-line and profitability growth, against a challenging business and financial environment. All of these are achievements to be proud of, but I think there is another achievement that is much more important and that is the strength of the vision and working with the right people.
The original vision by Urmas Soorumaa, the company founder and one of the most successful businessmen in Baltics history, has not been matched in terms of ingenuity, GtM, and business model effectiveness. In a world where technological barriers to entry are almost impossible to establish anymore, Urmas came up with a disruptive vision that is unparalleled and unmatched by any competitors almost 3 years later, speaking volumes about what the company has been doing since its inception.”
Envisioning The Future
We also asked, “How do you envision the future of the mobility industry?
Loukas Tzitzis replied, “In the short to mid-term, the future varies by region but ultimately shows a globally convergent picture. Mobility-first super apps have existed for over a decade, with no technological barriers and many competitors emerging to challenge Uber. The main issue was that capital for this approach came mostly from investment and financing cash flows, not operating cash flows.
Post-Covid macroeconomic changes have shifted this. With ZIRR days gone, tech IPOs slowing, and AI/ML emerging as the ‘next big thing,’ companies are forced to pursue growth and profit through business model innovation. In this tough environment, many are pivoting to ‘beyond ride-hailing’ revenues like P2P car sharing, allowing car owners to monetize their vehicles.
Regulation and GDPR compliance remain critical, requiring companies to adopt strong security frameworks. AI will disrupt this segment further, alongside developments like platform-wide approaches enabling users to manage transport needs dynamically and in real time.
Having said all that, I do want to highlight that the biggest change I see ahead in the wider mobility and transportation space is the introduction of eFTI (Electronic freight transport information) in the European Union and its adoption by Q3 2027 from all EU countries.
When one considers the transportation and logistics EU market size, eFTI’s disruptive potential, benefits estimations, its anticipated impact in the B2G and B2B segments and finally the implications for countries and regions, such as Middle East, Turkey and Turkic nations that are trading with EU countries, most people would agree that this event could be mind-boggling.
I think we are looking at a transformation program unlike anything we have seen ever in the EU.” Loukas added.
Advice Shaping Loukas’ Career Path
Eager to learn more about business suggestions that shaped Loukas Tzitzis’ career path, we inquired, “What is an excellent piece of business advice you have ever received?”
Loukas Tzitzis shared, “I have been fortunate to have received excellent advice from multiple people all over the world. I will be forever grateful for their advice, support, and guidance in helping shape my career. If I had to select one composite piece of business advice specifically, I would have to go with – Adjusting and respecting different cultures, focusing on EQ rather than IQ, being consistent, working hard, building bridges, being a top 1% communicator, and surrounding yourself with people that are smarter, more experienced and more accomplished are the keys to winning. Make no mistake; winning matters and those that sell, win. Those that play to participate and do not sell, are quickly and easily forgotten.”
The Art of Balancing
We ended the interview by asking, “How do you balance investing in up-to-date ideas with ensuring ongoing operations remain successful?”
Loukas Tzitzis concluded, “I strongly believe in prioritizing through a continuous spiral of ‘strategic buckets’ and VV&T (Verification, Validation, and Testing), with clear timeline flags for introductions and impacts. Strategic buckets involve tough choices between ‘business as usual’ and ‘new ideas,’ assessed by strategic alignment, risk vs. reward balance, performance indicators, and the ability to execute with the right people in place.
Priority setting isn’t an annual activity tied to budgeting. In the digital era, priorities and initiatives must be regularly reviewed and balanced. However, having the right mindset and framework is only half the work. Once priorities are set and execution begins, it’s crucial to adjust target outcomes during the ‘build’ phase. This involves verifying the business need, validating outcomes across the value chain, and testing deliverables before rolling them out across operations.”
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