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Celebrating International Women’s Day Throughout March at PayFuture

Written by Roxanna Bashir, Chief People and Culture Officer

Our Chief People and Culture Officer, Roxanna Bashir, shares her experience meeting our team in the Philippines.

Our hearts are brimming with joy as we celebrate our last but not least International Women’s Day with our incredible team in the Philippines.

Reflecting on our journey of support and empowerment, our visit to the Philippines last July was a pivotal moment where we had the privilege of meeting our dedicated team in person for the first time. This visit provided us with a profound opportunity to connect on a deeper level, gaining insights into the unique challenges and aspirations of our team members. It was a transformative experience that left an indelible mark on all of us.

During our visit, one of the most significant realisations was the recognition that many of our female team members were single mothers, gracefully balancing the demands of work and family with unwavering grace and resilience. While our initial plan was to establish a central office in Manila, it became abundantly clear that the most effective way to support our team was to embrace remote work. This decision enabled them to prioritise their families without compromising their performance at PayFuture.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day this month, we wholeheartedly honour the strength, determination, and dedication of our female team members in the Philippines and around the world. Their steadfast commitment serves as a constant source of inspiration, and we take immense pride in standing alongside them as allies and advocates for equality and empowerment.

At PayFuture, we are dedicated to fostering a work environment where every individual feels valued, respected, and supported to achieve their fullest potential. Moving forward, let us reaffirm our commitment to uplifting and empowering women in all aspects of life, both within our company and beyond. Together, we can forge a future where every woman’s dreams are not just attainable but celebrated.

For me personally from the moment I said yes to this whirlwind journey with PayFuture, my role has extended far beyond the scope of Chief People and Culture Officer, I’ve been propelled far beyond the confines of my initial expectations and perceived limitations. Joining this dynamic, fast-paced, and relentlessly successful company in its infancy, I embarked on an adventure that has been nothing short of a thrilling rollercoaster ride.

From the exhilarating surge of our team’s growth to the heart-pounding impact of our strategic decisions, each moment has been a wild testament to the resilience and fortitude that define us. Amidst the chaos of meetings, deadlines, and breakthroughs, I discovered an untapped wellspring of resilience within myself.

As I say farewell to this month of celebrating International Women’s Day, I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the whirlwind of experiences that have shaped me. PayFuture isn’t just a company; it’s a vibrant mosaic of inclusivity, diversity, and boundless opportunity. And for that, I am endlessly thankful.

PayFuture has become an important player in India

India has experienced a transformation in its economic landscape over the past decade. We’ve witnessed India’s transition from a cash-based society to a digital payment ecosystem, facilitated by the government’s initiatives post-demonetisation.

PayFuture has become an important player in navigating this market. We’ve been instrumental in delivering payment solutions to e-commerce businesses looking to expand into India while meeting the needs and preferences of Indian consumers.

UPI marks a point in India’s digital payment revolution. The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched UPI in April 2016, aiming to simplify digital transactions and enable financial inclusion in remote areas through a shift to digital transactions.

PayFuture has harnessed the potential of India’s digital payments sphere, aligning our services with consumer lifestyle changes and leveraging regulatory shifts. Our adaptability, foresight, and commitment to driving financial inclusion have made us one of the main payment providers in India.

The digital payment revolution in India is both dynamic and ambitious, and PayFuture’s expertise and contributions are lighting the way.

To explore how our expertise can benefit your online business, fill in this short form; https://bit.ly/3x8jiN1

Empowering Excellence: Celebrating International Women’s Day at PayFuture.

As we commemorate International Women’s Day, it’s a moment to honour the trailblazers, the fighters and the relentless champions of gender equality. Three years ago, I embarked on a new chapter, joining PayFuture – a payments start-up as the first C-level hire in the role of their Chief People and Culture Officer. What ensued was a whirlwind of challenges, triumphs and moments that tested my resilience, psychological fortitude and emotional strength.

Joining the start-up revolution as the Chief People and Culture Officer, I was tasked with shaping the organisation’s identity, fostering a culture of inclusivity and driving growth amidst fierce competition. It was a role that demanded more than just professional expertise – it required a deep understanding of human dynamics, a keen sense of empathy and an unwavering commitment to excellence.

Focus on building a Global Brand:

Over the last few years, our journey at PayFuture has been nothing short of remarkable. From humble beginnings, we started with building the foundations, finding and recruiting exceptional talent that was right for our organisation. We wanted people who aligned with our values, had the same uncompromising drive, relentless in their pursuit to make PayFuture the biggest and the best payments company in the world.

We are immensely proud that in a very short space of time, we have grown into a global powerhouse, boasting a workforce of talented individuals across Philippines, India, UAE, UK, and Malta. But beyond the numbers, it is the transformational impact we have had on people’s lives that truly resonates. As a woman in leadership, I made it my mission to pave the way for future generations, championing diversity and inclusion at every turn.

Empowering Women at PayFuture:

As leaders, as agents of change, we have a responsibility to continue driving meaningful action, advocating for inclusivity and empowering the next generation of women leaders. At PayFuture, we’ve made significant strides in how we have shaped our organisation in our quest to find the right talent.

We are proud to share 46% of our talented workforce consists of women and we boast of a balanced gender ratio in leadership positions. It’s a testament to our unwavering commitment to breaking barriers and building bridges – not just within our organisation, but across industries and beyond. As we celebrate International Women’s Day, we continue standing out from the competition, championing diversity, and empowering women to thrive in every aspect of their lives.

Reflecting on my journey, I am filled with a profound sense of gratitude and pride on the progress we have made, the challenges that lie ahead and the boundless potential that resides within each and every one of us. Together, let us continue to break barriers, defy expectations and pave the way for a more inclusive and equitable future.

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, let us not only recognise the achievements of women but also dedicate ourselves to creating a future where every person, irrespective of gender or race, is empowered to succeed.

Happy International Women’s Day, which we will be celebrating throughout the month of March 2024. Every week, we will we share highlights and updates from our teams across the Company.

Roxanna Bashir

Chief People and Culture Officer @PayFuture

FCA grants agent EMI licence to PayFuture as it reaches major milestones

FCA grants agent EMI licence to PayFuture as it reaches major milestones

Since 2020, PayFuture has quickly helped businesses process over $2 billion in transactions, and have almost tripled their profits since the first year in operation. With an agent EMI licence, PayFuture is poised to scale operations and expand coverage to catalyse this growth further.

London, UK – 5th June 2023; British fintech payments company PayFuture is today announcing it has been granted an agent Electronic Money Institution (EMI) licence by UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). With this licence, PayFuture is poised to deliver a comprehensive suite of localised payment products and methods, designed to offer convenience and efficiency in an increasingly digital world. The company’s advanced technology platform, combined with its deep understanding of online merchant’s needs, will enable businesses to access untapped markets effortlessly.

The agent EMI licence positions PayFuture as a trusted and regulated entity, enabling the company to issue electronic money, facilitate digital payments, money disbursements and offer a range of other payment services, further enhancing its ability to meet the evolving needs of online businesses.

Founded in 2019, PayFuture has grown from strength to strength every year. It has been a profitable business from the first year and has scaled organically without any external funding. Today, the company offers local payment services in over 40 countries and has helped hundreds of businesses around the world process over $2 billion of transactions. Businesses use PayFuture’s proprietary system “Emerging Market Entry Methodology” (EM²) to accept and disperse payments quickly and seamlessly in emerging markets.

The agent EMI licence represents a culmination of extensive efforts by PayFuture to adhere to the highest standards of compliance and risk management. The regulatory approval underscores the company’s commitment to maintaining the utmost transparency and regulatory compliance while providing innovative payment solutions.

The agent EMI licence achievement comes hot on the heels of PayFuture launching 11 direct solutions in new countries within just the past 6 months, as well as becoming PCI Level 1 compliant which is the highest level of compliance and payment security standards merchants can comply with to securely store, transmit, and process credit card information. This progress represents significant leaps in the company’s mission to transform from being a payments technology platform to becoming the largest payments processor supporting businesses looking for local payment options across the world’s emerging markets.

“We are delighted to have been granted the agent EMI licence, a significant achievement that showcases our dedication to excellence in the payments industry,” said Manpreet Haer, CEO and Co-Founder of PayFuture. “This milestone is a testament to our team’s quality and hard work, as well as our unwavering commitment to providing solutions that have previously not been available to merchants, resulting in net new profits for them. We are excited to continue pushing boundaries and revolutionising the way people do business in underbanked emerging markets”.

The agent EMI licence marks a pivotal moment in the company’s growth trajectory, as it expands its reach and strengthens its position as the leader in payments within frontier markets.

Ends

Notes to the editor

Media images can be found here. For further information please contact the PayFuture press office: Ash Bhamra on ash.bhamra@payfuture.net or +44 7592614676. Thank you.

About PayFuture

PayFuture was founded in 2019 by industry veterans experienced in the payments technology and cyber security space. They formed PayFuture as an alternative means to help businesses get paid and establish a market leading global payment technology.

Today, PayFuture is a team of innovators, technologists and payments enthusiasts who are focused on their mission to bridge the gaps between technology, intelligence and payments.

PayFuture’s mission is ensuring merchants, along with their customers, receive the best seamless customer experience that maximises sales, profits, and client retention. In doing so, PayFuture aims to become a global payment provider known for its diversity of localised payment options within emerging countries.

With the recently acquired agent EMI licence, PayFuture is well-positioned to expand its capabilities and reach to deliver unparalleled value to its merchants around the world.

For more information please visit https://www.payfuture.net or follow via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube.

Mobile Payments Adoption in India

In the global goal of inclusive and sustainable growth, financial inclusion and access are broadly recognized to be key steps toward it. Without a doubt, technology has been playing a pivotal role in expediting and accelerating this revolutionary progress. One of the recent ways we have seen this take-off is through a massive mobile payments app adoption.

Many countries have taken the major step in having technology at the forefront of their economic growth. China is a prime example in leading and developing digital financial services across its population. In 2021, it is projected that more than half a billion people in the country shall pay through their phones at a point-of-sale.

This means that China’s booming payment apps market has opened up payment convenience and payment solutions to both physical and online stores at a penetration rate of 39.5 percent. Adopting a mobile payment app approach has been done by many shopkeepers, restaurateurs, and e-commerce platforms. To this effect, small businesses have massively benefitted as businesses move directly from cash to payment apps.

However, with 1.7 billion people remaining unbanked, financial inclusivity continues to be a major challenge across emerging markets and institutions. In a recent Statista report, one of the emerging countries that are gaining momentum and penetration rate on adopting a mobile and digital future is India:

Source: Statista Digital Market Outlook

India’s high user-app penetration rate on mobile point-of-sale

Among emerging and developing countries in Asia, India has always had high payment app penetration levels above the world average. While average spendings per consumer remain low with only a casual usage of these mobile apps, this still suggests that India has a ripe population to a potential digital payments economy.

India is a country known for its incredibly diverse population. This diversity is also seen in the types of mobile apps that are popular in the country such as e-commerce, entertainment, and travel apps. There are several factors that have contributed to this growth including an increase in smartphone users, improved internet connectivity, and the growth of startups in the country.

Despite this growth, there are still some challenges that need to be addressed. One of these is the lack of standardization in the app development process. This can lead to fragmentation and a lack of interoperability among apps. Another challenge is the low penetration of credit cards and digital payments. This makes it difficult for companies to monetize their apps. However, these challenges won’t last any longer.

More people in India would eventually adopt mobile apps, making concerns about fragmentation and lack of interoperability become less of a hindrance. Both Indian users and entrepreneurs would begin looking towards digital payments and app solutions. Eventually, B2B struggles will exponentially decrease as more payment solutions will allow businesses to successfully launch more local forms of payment methods to unlock untapped markets in India.

All these reasons point to India as a country that is ready to accelerate its mobile app and digital payment growth as more users and merchants alike adopt this practice in the years to come.

Mobile app adoption statistics of India in 2021

A key reason why the Indian economy remains fertile for digital advancements is that its mobile app industry is expected to reach a value of Rs 2.3 lakh crore by 2021. Assessing to be one of the largest and most profitable global markets, there are over 1.12 billion mobile phone subscribers since 2016. This is out of a population of 1.32 billion which makes India leading in the subscription penetration rate of 98 percent.

India has the world’s third-largest mobile network coverage, with approximately 90 percent of the geographical area covered by mobile signal coverage. The country has witnessed a phenomenal growth in mobile data consumption, with average monthly consumption per user surging to 9.8GB in 2016 that is expected to reach 24GB by 2021. Even its e-commerce industry remains flourishing exponentially.The strong uptake of smartphones and increasing mobile data consumption are the main drivers for this growth.

The launching of the Digital India Program

More than an organic shift towards a digital future, the Government of India has also launched the Digital India program since 2015 to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The ambitious initiative aims towards e-governance, connecting rural communities with cloud services, broadband highways, public internet access programs, and digital literacy missions.

On this backdrop, it is estimated that the number of mobile users in the country will rise to 1.22 billion by 2021, an increase of 21% from the end of 2017. Despite this growth, India’s mobile market is still at a nascent stage. The expected penetration rate for smart devices in 2017 is estimated to be 28%, as compared to over 80% in markets such as the US and China.

This means that these statistics shall only increase from here onwards, with combined efforts and initiatives from the Indian Government, consumers, and businesses. This will offer larger curves and potential for growth in the Indian mobile and payments market once more b2b payments solutions bridge the gap and struggles among Indian localities and regions.

The future of mobile payments and app adoption for India

The global mobile economy is booming and is estimated to be worth $3.3 trillion dollars entering into 2022. With the penetration of high-speed networks and affordable smartphones, consumers’ appetite for digital content and convenience has increased exponentially. India has among the highest number of internet users in the world. Over 80% of this internet usage is through mobile phones.

As India’s mobile app market reaches and crosses $3.4 billion in 2020, a report from Strategy Analytics project that revenue from mobile apps will jump tenfold over the next five years, reaching $10 million (Rs 66 crore) per day and exceeding Rs 2.2 trillion (US$33 billion).

The Indian mobile app economy is still in its early profitability stage and has rich potentials to grow significantly over the next few years. Research director at Strategy Analytics Neil Shah projects that the average Indian consumer in-app spendings shall only increase, driven by the high availability of affordable smartphones and data plans with huge explorations on newer business models like paid apps and advertising. In turn, this will revolutionize the country into a tech-centric economy.

This is one of the ripest periods for global businesses to enter the Indian economy and unlock untapped regional markets in the emerging country. This can be effectively reached through utilizing digital payments solutions that will allow interoperability across apps and provide people of India access to more accessible e-payment methods. Soon enough, India could potentially pivot towards a massive mobile payment app adoption next to China.

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The PayFuture team is committed to producing Economic and Financial Technology content. In this journey towards information, we envision the world to become more aware of digital payments and innovations that may change the future.

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Why Fintech Startups Set Eyes on Africa

The Africa fintech startup scene experiences unprecedented growth due to an influx of foreign investments. In fact, the market is under the surveillance of many fintech investors and for the right reasons.

Generally, fintech ventures are hoping to pioneer an innovative ecosystem up for adoption. Africa records having a digital-savvy young population. Yet despite this, it was lagging behind other emerging markets in venture capital activities.

At present, however, the market is witnessing an impressive acceleration in investments in the past months. According to Disrupt Africa, startups in Africa secured about $330 million in funding in early 2021. This recorded number is double the fund raised from 2020, with more forecasted to come.

Source: Quartz.com

‘Africa is a Blank Slate’

Africa is an ideal market because of its rawness. Pierre Shurcke, Partner at European growth investor from TempoCap exclaimed: “Africa is almost like a blank canvas that VCs and startups can build on. We’re going to see a quantum leap in the development of [the] ecosystem and there’s a great amount of opportunity for really strong returns.”

Pierre also explained why VCs outside African refrained from entering the market before. He said high geopolitical issues, currency-related risks, and the geographical nature of the continent have some way or another raised red flags.

But now, things have started to change. After recent success stories proliferating the media are enticing more investors in the African fintech market. Not to mention that the size of the market can relatively constitute the size of the opportunity.

Investors Magnets: Valuations and Success Stories in Africa

Valuations given to African companies clearly draw in more foreign investors. Furthermore, success stories draw VCs in the market. Compared to the US and Europe where prices skyrocket, Africa is a greenfield with a large opportunity to grow. Hence, the market tends to attract more risk-taking investors.

Last March 2021, Nigeria-born payments startup Flutterwave attained unicorn status in March with a $170 million round, PitchBook data. This valuation has made the continent more attractive.

Some other VCs investing in the region are Japan’s Uncovered Fund, which reportedly launched a $15 million drive in February to back early-stage African startups. Then, we have USA-based Tiger Global backing microfinance startup FairMoney. As per TechCrunch, Valar Ventures and Target Global lead the $55 million series B funding for bank Kuda that has a $500 million valuation.

African Fintech Startups: A Bright Future Ahead

There’s a lot of innovative local startups solving true-to-life struggles. What these startups offering has a real use case usually necessary for the community’s growth. More importantly, the solution is aiming to serve a huge chunk of the population.

Johan Bosini of Quona Capital remarks. “There is now real evidence of appetite from larger investors, which has led to more confidence in the ecosystem and unlocked a lot more local capital and expertise, further fueling growth.”

Though African startups classify as high-risk-and-high-reward investments, many investors are following suit. Of note, the firms entering the market early may have the upper hand. Most likely as they reap stellar returns as the ecosystem grows into adoption.

Global Payments

Utilisation of the Payfuture gateway facilitates a merchant’s rapid growth in new emerging markets, all with one simple API integration. Our system allows customers to move into growth countries, manage fraud and risk. Using our AI machine learning technology a customer’s journey becomes seamless as the payment page is modified depending on their country and its specific local payment options. This ensures that our merchants receive the highest customer conversions no matter which country their clients are paying from.

Ecommerce

Ecommerce Payments have never been so convenient. PayFuture’s difference is that we have built our technology around ensuring that we are reducing our ecommerce merchant’s load times and therefore reducing payment abandonment. We also offer one of the largest varieties of payment options for our ecommerce merchants

6% abandon due to a lack of payment options.4% abandon due to technical issues4% abandon due to poor payment experience

PF’s connector gateway alleviates all of these issues.

Transaction Optimisation

PayFuture has a team of transaction monitoring experts who continuously follow our merchant’s traffic flow 24/7 -365 days a year. This team aims to make sure no transaction disruption occurs and even in peak periods transactions are optimised for minimal customer declines or drop offs. Our unique conversion recovery solution works in real-time to identify when a client may abandon a sale, allowing our automated chatbots and the merchant’s customer service/call centre the opportunity to re-engage before they abandon the site. This alone is huge since it offers the ability to convert a lost sale into a potential success. Finally, we offer a function where if the chosen payment option is declined then the system will have the option to automatically offer the customer an attempt at another local payment type.

Data Rich Reporting

For a business to expand into new emerging regions, having the correct data in real-time assists in understanding customer trends in terms of their payment habits per each country. PayFuture has created a simple to use payment platform interface ensuring detailed data rich reporting functionality with a few simple clicks. By offering powerful payments data, insight and analysis we enable instantaneous and most importantly real time views of the data which will assist merchants with their marketing plans, budgets and business growth in their chosen emerging markets.