Sandra Mianda

Years of experience working with large, small, established corporates and Fintechs has led to this point… I.e. me taking the leap to quit the corporate world to run my own business. I am first and foremost passionate about payments and really fortunate to have found a niche in a continuously evolving and fast paced industry! At the core of my belief, I have hardly seen that one single solution can meet all merchants requirements. I truly believe in expertise and understanding the nuances dictated by specific verticals. The payments ecosystem has got a lot to offer… and I am here to help sharing independent, honest and transparent perspectives to merchants and the Fintech community. Helping businesses navigating the payments complexity, searching, sourcing, understanding their options, negotiating best terms and supporting with the full end-to-end implementation of their payments facility is what I do… days in… days out… with a smile and an 'out of the box' thinking mindset 😃. Learning is priceless. I have a keen interest in new technology/innovation and as such diving into the NFT/Crypto/Blockchain developments keeps feeding my curious mind whilst keeping me awake at night😅. I strongly believe in the crossed opportunity that this presents for brands to innovate and I am keeping myself informed and aware! Always open to making new connections, Linkedin being my only community of choice for that. Feel free to reach out whether you have a project, may be thinking of one or just want a sounding board to run an idea past…🤷‍♀️ Sandra@paypr.work

Headquartered in Cyprus with multiple operations across Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Nigeria etc, Unlimint provides a payments interface, built inhouse, which aims to help businesses trade across new markets. As part of Unlimint's ambitious plans, I started the UK/EU Sales Acquiring operations from the ground up by defining and deploying key business strategies to diversify their current portfolio and building a sales operation across junior to senior and technical roles to take a pivotal function as new entrants into the newly established UK/EU operation.

As a Sales Director in the Hospitality and T&E segment, I specialize in Pan European solutions for International Corporates (Tier 1, Tier 2). Typically, I work with large hotels group, hotels/assets management companies and properties franchised groups globally to deliver streamlined payments solutions across multiple regions/countries and help drive value by reducing costs, increasing bottomlines whilst driving operational alignment. About Elavon With over 25 years of experience in end to end payments processing and over 1 million customers globally, Elavon is rated among the top 5 global payment providers. Elavon offer secure and innovative payments solutions that you allow businesses to process cross borders and domestic transactions through a single full-service payment platform. Businesses benefit from consolidated acquiring across multiple countries whilst simplifying operations and increasing profitability. Elavon is the the Global Payments Services divison of the US Bank, the 5th largest commercial bank in the US, and process in excess of 3 billion transactions annually around the world. To learn more about Elavon, visit: www.elavon.com

As a Strategic Sales Manager in the Travel team, I was responsible to grow WEX revenue within the European business through the identification, implementation & management of direct opportunities. I was also involved in new GTM strategies for the deployment of the virtual cards solutions in new markets i.e. France, Benelux and the UAE and led new business initiative along with external partners to extend WEX value proposition to the Aviation segment i.e. developing new business use case for to use of VC by global commercial and private airlines for fuel, accommodation and transit spend. A key part of my role was to also to represent WEX as a subject matter expert externally through panel discussions, forums, awards sponsor etc. WEX Europe is a leading provider of B2B virtual payment solutions. With a strategic focus on the travel industry, WEX has an extensive and global customer base including the likes of Expedia, Priceline, Bravely, Orbitz, Thomas Cook etc.The business has a distinctive position, sitting at the intersection of payments, data and technology. WEX parent’s entity, WEX Inc, has been operating since the 1980s and is publicly traded under the NYSE (NYSE: WEX).

PayPal is one of the leading global online payment platform built for the digital age. PayPal is unique - being a technology company but also a financial services company - PayPal sit between these two worlds and bring them together. Trusted by more than 200 million users worldwide, with 20 million users in the UK alone, PayPal handle almost a fifth of the world’s online payments. With the acquisition of Braintree, PayPal drive connected commerce in 130 currencies across 204 markets and across all channels - online, mobile and in-store. Within the Merchant Services BU, my role was to identify unexploited market opportunities for PayPal, engaging with relevant business segments and representing the merchant marketplace in the full sales management lifecycle (from prospect prioritization through to technical integration). Whilst I worked across a number of verticals (i.e. Retail, Travel, Marketplaces), I primarily focused on travel & pure digital players. I partially or fully owned the business engagement in these verticals. This implied driving the verticals strategy, building the use cases, sourcing new opportunities, coordinating with and providing market feedback to counterparts in marketing, products, operations, finance and pre-sales to enhance PayPal proposition.

My role as an EU Corporate Sales Manager was to develop and deploy key business strategies to recruit and implement card acquiring (e-commerce & face-to-face) and gateway solutions (Smartpay/ePDQ/Pingit) within established European Corporates. Generally operating with the largest, most complex clients across multiple sectors (B2B/B2C) typically with a business turnover in excess of £20M. Whilst driving direct sales was the core focus, my role also involved leveraging the indirect sales channels with Barclays wider business units and external partners. As such, I owned the engagement with Barclays Banking & Barclays Wealth in France, Gibraltar, Guernsey and Jersey along with some key PSPs relationships. My primary focus was Retail, e-Commerce and Travel. Acquired expertise in: • Payment gateways • Merchant accounts • Fraud screening solutions • Cross-border ecommerce • FX solutions • Payment processing platforms • Interchange Optimisation Thanks to Barclaycard strong exposure in the payments industry, I have gained valuable insights across the payments ecosystem and work with many corporates. This enabled me to contribute the enhancement of Barclaycard value proposition in line with the industry specific trends and challenges.

Kelkoo is a large e-commerce website that operates internationally. It’s a one-stop shopping service, helping customers to find, research, and buy products at competitive prices. I fully manage and have P&L responsibility for the Travel and Retailing core categories at Kelkoo. Account-managed a client portfolio of over 80 online merchants, which included a mix of high streets brands, travel agencies, OTAs and smaller, more specialist websites. Generated over £375,000 in revenue per month through my portfolio by securing, maintaining and developing strategic partnerships. My role involves regular face to face meetings and conference attendance. I was also involved in designing and selling merchandising campaigns to clients based around seasonal events e.g. Christmas, St Valentine, Easter etc.

This company provides screening and verification services globally on employees, businesses and 3rd parties to HR/recruitment and Security professionals. Responsible for generating completely new business revenues across the EMEA region, with a focus on the recruitment, pharmaceuticals, hospitality and financial services. Full sales cycle management from inception to implementation (building prospect lists, cold calling, introductory meetings, proposals, negotiation and contract sign off). Audience: Directors level in HR, Recruitment and Security and Compliance departments.

Network of career sites for professionals working in banking and the financial markets. Responsible for generating completely new business revenues for the Dutch online financial recruitment platform - www.efinancialcareers.nl. Selling online recruitment solutions at director-level, involvement in marketing and branding as well. Involved regular travels to the assigned territory in order to close key business face-to-face. Audience: Heads of department, HR & Recruitment professionals.

Durrants (Gorkana)offers press cuttings, media planning and monitoring services in the UK Responsible for all aspect of servicing and upselling a portfolio of about 60-70 clients from various industries (i.e. Public sectors, PR agencies, Automotive, Retail). Occasional face to face presentations to clients ranging from Senior Corporate Communication Specialists to Investors Relations, FDs or in PR/IR account Directors.