When it came to finding a candidate to help lead B4B Payments in the US, for the company’s Co-Founders Paul Swinton and Rob Anderson, there was only one option, long-time associate Kieran Draper.
“I've lived in the US for most of the last 30 years, mostly in New York and then more recently here in Boston,” says Draper.
“So back in 2019 when B4B was looking for investors in the business and trying to make the next move, they came to me for the umpteenth time and said: ‘Kieran, would you like to come on board and help us expand into the US?’
“I had a very long career in management consulting with some of the biggest firms out there,” Draper continues, “and the timing was just right for me to make this move, to get into a startup and try my hand.”
Reality hits hard sometimes, though, and when Draper joined to spearhead B4B in the US, all he had “to start with was a whiteboard”.
“There was nothing,” he reflects, but he knew what he had to build. “The positive for me in leading the expansion was that we already had fintech capabilities in place in Europe and the UK. The platform technology was there, but we needed to set up an entire ecosystem here so we could actually use the platform to serve US clients.”
Indeed, if establishing a fresh ecosystem from which B4B’s digital platform could be used in the US wasn’t complex enough, once complete, the job for Draper and co shifted to market penetration and gaining traction in a US sector altogether different from the UK and EU.
“My focus has been on forming the business as a legal entity, forging partnerships with Visa and with our issuing bank, with the data processor, hiring people and then promoting the business, which is probably the most important,” Draper adds.
“The two most important functions with CEOs are bringing the right talent on board and promoting the business, that’s been crucial for me and what I’ll strive to keep doing.”
Read the full story HERE.
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