Pomelo Pay Appoint Andrew Doukanaris as CEO for the UK and Europe

Digital payments platform Pomelo Pay has appointed Andrew Doukanaris as permanent CEO for the UK and Europe to lead its growth in the market, the company announced today.

Andrew, who has been Chair of The Board since January 2019, has become CEO of the UK and Europe as of 7 June 2021.

As CEO for the UK and Europe, Andrew will oversee the strengthening of Pomelo’s position as a leader in the digital payments sector in the UK. He will identify growth opportunities for the brand in new markets throughout Europe. Andrew will also support the team with product development and seek to grow Pomelo’s presence across Europe, drawing on Pomelo’s partnership with Mastercard.

With an extensive background in digital payments and financial services, Andrew holds several other senior positions, including CEO of Flotta Consulting Ltd. and Fintech & Payments Consulting Ltd. He is also an Ambassador at Level39, supporting the growth of start-ups in the Fintech space and mentoring those looking to break into the industry.

His previous experience includes roles at JCB Europe as Senior Vice President Marketing, Acceptance & Acquiring, and at Visa Europe as Vice President and Head of Merchant Acceptance Development & Acquiring Services, where he grew their contactless, mobile and in-store payment channels resulting in an increase of more than $29 billion in sales across Europe over five years. He was also a Management Consultant with Mastercard with whom Pomelo Pay have now partnered with in Europe.

Pomelo CEO Vincent Choi said: “Andrew’s appointment as permanent CEO for the UK and Europe is reflective of Pomelo’s significant growth over the past few months. His work helping us build the Pomelo product and brand to date has been instrumental in our success so far this year, and we look forward to welcoming him on board as a full-time member of the team.”

Pomelo Chairman and UK and Europe CEO Andrew Doukanaris added: “Having been consultant, board advisor, and Chair to Pomelo I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead the business as CEO in the UK and Europe. In this capacity, my role will be to learn from and develop my team’s knowledge and expertise to build successful partnerships within the ecosystem, including with businesses, merchants, cardholders, other Fintech partners, and global payment schemes. To make this happen, we will build on our partnership with Mastercard Europe to issue cards and with key acquiring partners to grow acceptance and build awareness – and by doing so working to provide an alternative to the myriad of ‘me too’ solutions, including our oldest foe, cash. We cannot ignore the devastating effect the Covid-19 pandemic has had on people’s lives and livelihoods. But what it did from a payments perspective was to highlight the need for safer, immediate, and lower-cost solutions. Our QR technology is tried and tested. It reduces the friction between those making and receiving payments, just as contactless started to do more than a decade ago.”

Pomelo pay was founded in 2017 by a team of financial services and tech specialists. It has seen a significant increase in demand in the last year prompted by a greater appetite for cashless payment options as businesses take steps to Covid-proof their operations. It is also preparing for the lifting of lockdown restrictions and subsequent economic recovery.