Creating a startup requires a team of persons with different skillsets. Most teams start with at least two members. Paywise began with one person and, like other teams, will expand to suit the skillset requirement. This requirement is based on the application needs, gaps in the team skillset, the importance of the skill and the cost to acquire the skill.
Several skills are required to develop Paywise. These are programming, system design, transaction processing, accounting and finance. The development team handles the programming and the physical design of the system. The logical design and the other skillsets are handled by me. It’s quite a handful. If it were not for my past work experiences I may not have been able to do it.
My work experience spans many years and different careers. First I was a software developer in a bank. For many years I worked on transaction based systems. These systems comprised batch and online transaction systems. Some systems were totally software based and others were a combination of hardware and software. Here I learnt system design, business analysis in the IT context and how transaction systems work.
Afterwards I changed careers and switched to the finance. I always had a flair for numbers so after obtaining an MBA I followed my passion. I continued working in the finance industry, initially at a bank, in the area of credit. My banking experience covered personal, commercial and corporate credit and culminated in the investment banking area. This experience taught me the world of finance and provide a deeper insight into the banking and financial systems.
Subsequently, I worked in a smaller financial institution that specializes in financing small and medium size businesses. Here I met many entrepreneurs who were in the development and growth stages of their businesses. My eyes were opened to the challenges of entrepreneurs. These challenges were both financial and non-financial in nature. I gained a better understanding of starting a business.
Later, I changed my career again. I moved from the financial industry into tertiary education. The motive was to impart my knowledge of entrepreneurship to the young minds and encourage them to pursue entrepreneurial objectives. This has been an exciting experience. Here I changed my philosophy about entrepreneurship and adopted modern teaching approaches to starting a business. The results have been very encouraging as students are more confident to become entrepreneurs.
Many reasons sparked the start of Paywise. One was the need to be more relevant to my students. That is, I found it difficult to teach entrepreneurship without being one. There is something about being able to speak about your own experiences and thereby, give more life and relevance to what you are teaching. Since starting Paywise my understanding and insight of the subject area has deepened.
The following saying best describes my experiences and my journey: tributaries flow into rivers and rivers flow into seas.