About us
What we do
mPay Connect provides strategic, product planning, and business development consulting services to clients interested in providing mobile payments services to their customers. mPay connect is experienced in serving clients with banked and unbanked customers world-wide. We charge for our services as a retainer or by the project, depending on what our clients prefer.
Our corporate headquarters are in San Francisco, CA with affiliates world-wide.
Our objective
From rural villages in Kenya and Tanzania to urban transit stations in Hong Kong and South Korea, mobile payments adoption is transforming how people interact with money. Our belief is that the ubiquity of mobile devices, coupled with electronic money movement, will change the landscape of financial services. This change will positively impact economies, businesses, and the livelihood of people in fundamental ways. To that end, we seek to bridge the gap between efforts in emerging and developed markets / banked and unbanked consumers, by connecting ideas, businesses, and people globally to drive mobile payments efforts forward.
Our background
She is a recognized expert in this field and has lectured on mobile money at events for Harvard Business School, Wharton MBA, Haas, Stanford, and Columbia Business School as well as mobile money conferences globally. She is a contributor to U.S. government policy discussions and has participated in and published discussion documents for the World Economic Forum around Mobile Finance and Economic Development. She is a board advisor to several startups in this space. Menekse has 17 years of experience as a consultant and industry leader in high tech, mobile, and financial services.
Menekse Gencer founded mPay Connect, a consulting service for clients seeking to launch mobile payments. Her consulting service advises financial institutions, mobile network operators, and third party platforms on market assessment, go-to-market strategy, product design, business development, and implementation. Her market expertise extends from North America to emerging markets such as Bangladesh, Jamaica, and sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to founding mPay Connect, Menekse led PayPal Mobile’s Business Development efforts in North America for two years during which time she closed PayPal’s first mobile network operator deal to launch PayPal Send Money on Sprint’s mobile wallet. She also led all aspects of PayPal Mobile Checkout's pilot.
Menekse has an MBA from Wharton and a BA in Economics from Harvard University and was previously featured on the cover of Fortune Small Business Magazine for her innovative startup. She is the founder of the Mobile Payments Series(TM) initiative which hosts panel discussions and networking events for professionals in the mobile money industry and provides an online forum for mobile payments discussions with her LinkedIn Group: Mobile Payments Series - mPay Connect.
Our Team
mPay Connect leverages strategic affiliate consultants as needed for client projects. mPay Connect affiliates have expertise in technical strategy, enterprise architecture and security, and regulatory policy. For more details on the specific functional and global mobile money experience of the team, please download the mPay Connect Team brochure.
Our Clients
Our clients include firms seeking to launch mobile payments and companies seeking to leverage mobile payments for their businesses. mPay Connect's roster of clients includes: A Fortune 500 global services firm, The Inter-American Development Bank, The United Nations Foundation's mHealth Alliance, The World Economic Forum, bKash - a mobile payments venture in Bangladesh, a prepaid mobile operator in North America, Citigroup, SKTelecom, EARN, and Wells Fargo. (References are available upon request.)
mPay Connect is experienced in serving clients around the globe who want to offer mobile payments services to their customers.
Mobile Payments Experience
mPay Connect is experienced in serving clients around the globe who want to offer mobile payments services to their customers. We assist our clients in regulatory assessment, market assessment, opportunity definition, market strategy creation, business plan development, business model creation, product design, vendor evaluation, and pilot plan development.
Our clients:
mPay Connect serves clients from various points in the value chain including banks, alternative payments companies, wireless operators, OEM/Handset manufacturers, mobile technology platforms, and other organizations seeking to use the mobile channel to reach their customer base for payments. Because we work with different industries, we are adept at bridging the gap among the various players to drive mobile payments forward. For more information regarding our clients and the type of work we do, please download our company brochure.
Specific areas of mobile payments expertise include:
- Understanding of key principles for success in developing a new mobile payments system based on PayPal lessons learned
- mBanking vs. mPayments: Use of mobile device as a channel for account access and bill payment, as a payment device for customers, and as a POS device for (small) merchants
- Online vs. Retail mPayments: Mobile for remote and proximity payments services
- Use of additional assets such as retail footprint for agent network for cash in and out
- Alternative account designs using PayPal-like model
- Money transfer services and Remittances: domestic and international remittances for the unbanked and banked customers
- Value-added financial services that can be leveraged using the mobile phone such as transactional credit, loan disbursement and repayment, asset accrual into special savings accounts, etc.
- Value chain economics and the role of future services for long term business model (such as data mining for targeted advertising and promotions based on payment transactions combined with mobile-specific data)
- Various types of payments: P2P, C2B (retail and online), B2B (replacement of cash in supply chain), B2C and G2C (cash into the system as rebates or income) including rails, flows, and interchange
- Open vs. Closed Loop systems, Push vs. Pull systems for funding account
- Build, Buy, Partner: Ecosystem participants and knowledge of vendors in build vs buy vs partner decisions
- Understanding of regulatory and business requirements for mobile payments setup
- Extensive network in mobile payments industry for driving vendor, distribution, and partnership deals globally (See Linked In Group: mPayConnect – Mobile Payments Series)
mPay Connect Resources
Connecting People and Ideas: In addition to our consulting services, mPay Connect provides whitepapers, presentations, and events for stakeholders in the Mobile Money industry. Many of these reports and presentations are available on Slideshare. See below for various topics and resources.
mPay Connect offers a mobile payments series consisting of live panel events and recorded videos that bring together industry experts to weigh in on hot topics around mobile payments. mPay Connect has hosted panel discussions and presented at Columbia Business School, Stanford, Haas, and the Alumni Clubs of Harvard Business School and Wharton MBA.
For access to videos, publications, forums, and blogs on mobile money, join the growing mobile money network.
Linked In Group: Mobile Payments Series - mPayConnect
The goals of the Mobile Payments Series(TM) are:
· To educate professionals on topics around mobile payments
· To provide networking and a hub for business development
· To spur innovation in this industry
· To bridge the gap between the US with the rest of the world in this field
Publicly available presentations by mPay Connect are posted on slideshare.
- Mobile Payments Series™ (Sept. 13, 2010) hosted by mPay Connect at The Hub - San Francisco. "Around the World in 80 Minutes: Mobile Money Tackles Global Issues"
- US State Department Tech@State, Washington DC. Mobile Money: The Foundation to Food Security" mPay Connect presented on the innovations and opportunities to leverage mobile money to support food security efforts.
- Columbia University Mobile Money Event, NYC. The Macroeconomics of Mobile Money (April 2, 2010). "Mobile Money: The Catalyst to Jumpstart Emerging Markets." Video of Event
- Mobile Payments Series (Feb. 18, 2010) hosted by HBS Club at Merrill Lynch, NYC. From Kenya to Wallstreet: Mobile Financial Services for the Next Billion Customers."
- Mobile Payments Series (Jan. 7, 2010) at Google in Silicon Valley. "Will mobile payments ever replace cash in the last mile? Where, when, and how?"
- Mobile Payments Series (Oct. 5, 2009) at Google in Silicon Valley. "Is there REALLY a market for mobile payments in the US?". Video highlights of the event. Glenbrook Blog of event
- Mobile Payments Series (Sept. 3, 2009) at Wharton MBA Office in San Francisco. "From Afghanistan to Silicon Valley: Mobile Financial Services for the Next Billion Customers." Glenbrook blog of the live event
mPay Connect in the Media
Read what the media says regarding the mobile projects conducted by mPay Connect's Menekse Gencer:
- mPay Connect interviewed by Digital Transactions Magazine on January 12, 2012 regarding PayPal's mobile payments forecast.
- mPay Connect presented at three Washington DC events: Advanced Payment Summit, Nov. 29, mHealth Summit, Dec. 5, and Tech Salon, Dec. 6.
- mPay Connect's publication on mHealth and Mobile Money is named 'Four more must-read mobile health reports' by mobihealthnews.
- Menekse Gencer interviewed by PBS Newshour on Mobile Money and mHealth.
- mPay Connect cited in article: "How Next Generation Payments Will Allow Social Movements to Flourish."
- Interview in Wall Street Journal regarding PayPal's international expansion.
- Interview by HIMSS Business Insider on the role mobile finance can play in bolstering healthcare.
- Presentation at Stanford's African Conference on January 29, 2011 on mobile money in Africa.
- Presentation on the opportunities to leverage common linkages between mHealth and Mobile Financial Services at the mHealth Summit in Washington DC on November 9, 2010.
- Mobile payments panel moderation at "The Future of Money" conference in April 2010.
- Presentation at the US Government State Department's Tech@State on Food Security and Mobile Money, Aug. 2, 2010.
- Market insights on global mobile trends for IE Market Research's latest forecasts. Audio recording can be downloaded here.
- Lecture at Columbia University on the macroeconomic impacts of mobile money initiatives in emerging markets on April 2, 2010
- Interview by Digital Transactions on P2P mobile payments and new NACHA ACH rules
- Presentation: "Will mobile payments ever replace cash in the last mile? When, where, and how?" at Google, co-hosted by Wharton and Harvard Business School Alumni Clubs
- Presentations for the first two workshops of the Asia Pacific Mobile Money Transfer conference on Dec. 7, 2009
- Presentation at the Dubai Mobile Money Transfer conference "How to address the Unbanked in the Developed World"
- Glenbrook Partners Blog of mPay Connect's Oct. 5 Event "Is there REALLY a market for mobile payments in the US?"
- YouTube highlights of October 5 Mobile Payments Event at Google
- Glenbrook Partners Blog of mPay Connect's Mobile Payments Series Kickoff
- Mobile Money Africa Interview with Menekse Gencer, Founder of mPay Connect
- Press Release of PayPal Send Money Service on Sprint's Mobile Wallet
- Digital Insights Article with Menekse Gencer on PayPal's Send Money Launch with first MNO
- American Banker Article wth Menekse Gencer on Mobile Money Transfer Services with Carriers
- Menekse Gencer speaks on PayPal Blog about Send Money with Sprint