First celebrated in 1911, in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, the 110th International Women’s Day (IWD) is upon us! A global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and with just 30% of the fintech sector’s overall workforce being women, there is no time like the present to recognise the amazing women, among our 200- strong team of experts that play a huge part in PXP Financial’s overall success.
Diversity drives innovation – when we limit who can contribute, we in turn limit what problems we can solve.
As a global expert in acquiring and payment processing services, offering a dynamic range of payment services to our customers, we know that diversity of thought generates innovation and can only come from employing a diverse workforce. At PXP Financial, we promote an inclusive and diverse environment which rewards individuals based on their performance and nothing else! Regardless of age, gender or race there is space for everyone to grow here.
That is why for IWD this year, while it was hard to narrow it down to just four employees, we are showcasing the women making waves across the board at PXP Financial and how they help others to do the same.
First up is Agota Kiss who, with a diploma in environmental sciences and landscape engineering, had a rather unusual route into financial services. But her techy background meant she was an ideal candidate to start off in hardware and software support services, and soon transitioned into account management where she has since built up a large portfolio of clients.
Rising to any challenge that comes her way within payments Agota commented: “It is amazing to see how quickly solutions are adapted when there is pressure created by a situation that has nothing to do with payments.”
Working at PXP Financial for just under eight years, she has risen through the ranks and is now a senior member of the team as Head of Commercial Support team, and following her own success is a keen advocate for supporting other women to shine too. “I empower women through conversations, forums, events – wherever I can – to help them have the confidence to create their own paths.”
Head of Account Development, Anschana Caravaca-Sasse holds over 16 years of financial services experience. Throughout her career, she has worked across various areas of the payments industry including acquiring, gateways, e-Wallets, online gaming and retail.
She continues to thrive within payments due to the many challenges it presents which she enjoys getting her teeth into – “Payments is no longer a simple transaction from A to B anymore. Now there are lots of different aspects to navigate: customer experience, understanding customer behaviour, technology, optimisation, security, geolocation, the list goes on.”
Anschana believes in leading by example, she regularly pushes herself outside of her comfort zone and encourages her team to do the same. She’s also incredibly transparent and human in the way that she operates. “Mistakes will happen, but that’s how things improve – embrace them!”.
Next up is Lyndsey Thomson, who began her career as a service desk call handler and has been making her way up the career ladder ever since and is now part of the senior management team. She loves the payments industry due to its constant flow of change and the evolving technologies that make it a super exciting industry to be in. “Payments have never been so easy and secure for customers, with the introduction of EMV, tokenisation, SCA and biometrics.”
As well as enjoying the diverse nature of the industry, she is also a big advocate in creating a working environment for her team that allows them to thrive by ensuring the path and end goal are always clear. “The way we reach a solution may change but ensuring empathy and a space where everyone feels supported even in challenging situations is key.”
Last but by no means least, we have Magda Schmid-Debska!
Throughout her career Magda has been fortunate enough to learn from and work with a diverse range of leaders in the payments industry. She has held a variety of exciting roles, one of which saw her play a role in the launch of a brand-new bank, as well as others which saw her work on educational projects with media outlets for the National Bank of Poland. She then moved over to the marketing department at PXP Financial, which enables her to combine her in-depth knowledge and passion for the payments industry with data-driven approaches to her work.
Commenting on the industry, she said: “What makes this industry so unique is how it embraces innovation and welcomes new entrants. As a payments business you cannot afford to stand still, you need to constantly improve to succeed.”
To inspire those around her, she applies her listening skills and gives women the space and opportunity to fully express themselves to generate their own ideas and solutions. She said: “Be the change you want to inspire. It’s important to aim high yourself in order to show those around you that they can accomplish anything they set their mind to. Handle things with positive thinking, continuous improvement, and a can-do attitude.”
Head over to our LinkedIn page this week to see the other women our employees admire at PXP and the wider tech industry here.