Robert Kraal , Co-founder and CBDO , Silverflow speaks to us about his company , the challenges facing FinTechs today and advice for fellow entrepreneurs .

My background isn ’ t in technology or even finance , but in Geophysics – I studied both exploration Geophysicis and Seismology before joining a small startup called Bibit in 1999 , which was founded by one of my friends from physics . I started out in software and product development – I had technical skills that could transfer over from geophysics – but because it was a small , rapidly growing company I had to switch roles almost every year , managing product development , acquirers and key accounts . That gave me an appreciation for how varied the industry could be . It wasn ’ t a case of developing a system and companies coming to you , but a people business where relationships with other parts of the ecosystem matter .

What pivotal moments or decisions in your career have significantly contributed to your professional growth and success ?

The experience of Bibit getting sold to RBS and merging with Worldpay in 2004 set me down a career path that led almost 20 years later to Silverflow . I was able to use all the experience I had gained to transition to a management position at RBS Worldpay , then and now one of the world ’ s biggest and most important payments companies . It was there that my career accelerated and I started to become an expert in payments . It meant that I could speak on the convention circuit and people would listen – we didn ’ t use the term ‘ influencer ’ at the time , but that was effectively what I became because I had the Worldpay name behind me . This was important not because I had , or have , all of the answers and the world needs to listen to me , but because being part of the conversation teaches you far more than simply listening .

How do you stay motivated and inspired in an industry that is constantly evolving and facing regulatory changes ?

I don ’ t know how I could not be motivated with the industry as it is ! We ’ re in a strange and often difficult economic situation , the FinTech would recently suffered a major downturn – when a history of 21st century economics is written , this will be the part where things get interesting .

When you are a founder , a big part of the motivation is making sure that the people who took a risk by working at a fairly early-stage company when they could have worked at an established conglomerate are thriving . That doesn ’ t just mean giving them great pay and benefits ( although we absolutely do that ), but that we are a family that is moving forward together .

Can you share any upcoming innovations or projects at Silverflow that you believe will significantly impact the industry ?

As it is , our technology is years ahead of our competitors , so besides creating new technologies we will be trying to showcase it to the world . We plan to expand geographically , showing that our product offering can solve the payments challenges of any region – look for us in the APAC region first .

We also want to show that we can do more than eCommerce . Our tech is completely applicable to card-present scenarios and we already have several solutions up and running in Europe . The

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