In this episode, Uzair talks to Leila Serhan about Visa’s strategy, role, and mission for digitizing payments and promoting financial inclusion in Pakistan. We talk about how the company views Pakistan’s market, what it is doing to have a meaningful impact in the country, and ways in which digitization of payments can be accelerated in Pakistan.

Leila Serhan is the Group Country Manager and Senior Vice President for NALP. Leila brings more than two decades experience of leadership positions, including 20 years gained at Microsoft. Leila most recently led Microsoft’s public sector business across the Gulf region, and previously served as General Manager for its operations across North Africa, East Mediterranean, and Pakistan.

She previously held roles spanning country management, finance and marketing and has driven public and private sector digital transformation initiatives in finance, government and education.

Leila is a strong advocate for women’s empowerment, founding and currently serving as President for the Women in IT Association in Lebanon.

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction

1:30 Visa’s business and core competencies

8:50 Barriers to financial inclusion

18:40 Visa’s impact strategy in Pakistan

23:06 Digital public infrastructure

32:40 Reading recommendations

Reading recommendations:

- How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie

- Good Strategy Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt

- A Gentleman In Moscow by Amor Towles