Melinda looks after the SMB business globally for Afterpay, based in London. Until June 2020 Melinda led the UK and Irish Businesses for Uber. Prior to this she led the European business at Square overseeing a range of business functions including sales, marketing, business development, partnerships and strategy.
Before joining Square, Melinda worked for PayPal, where she was responsible for managing the Small and Medium Business segment across Europe, Middle East and Africa. Over nearly 10 years at PayPal, Melinda spearheaded many innovations including PayPal’s mobile in-store and app products, servicing and consumer checkout experiences.
Previously, Melinda worked as a Senior Manager at Lloyd’s TSB and prior to that was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Melinda holds a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, Australia and an MBA awarded jointly by Columbia and London Business School.
This year, Melinda was awarded in the Senior Leaders category of Innovate Finance’s Top 150 Women in Finance Powerlist. She has been frequently nominated for inclusion as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in UK Technology and in 2014 she was named as one of the Management Today’s ‘35 Women to Watch in Business Under 35’.
Melinda is a Director of the UK Foundation of the University of New South Wales and an investor in a number of startups.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given
Take on challenging projects. I always have put my hand up for them. Even if I have not always triumphed in every way that I had hoped, I find you always learn on an accelerated curve.
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given
That as a woman leader that you need to come across less confident and be more ‘vulnerable’. Confidence is a critical element of leadership. You will never please everyone- some people will always think you are too vulnerable, others not vulnerable enough. Be consistently confident in yourself.
3. What would you tell your younger self?
I would say thank you to my younger self for having the courage to try a few career moves early before finding the right fit. I’ve had opportunities in international law, consulting, banking and then finally technology where I have happily ended up. I think not settling for something you are unhappy with is timeless advice.
We have a long life to live, and if you are mid-way through and not happy professionally or personally, it’s perfectly acceptable to change tack. I was very impressed recently with a friend who quit her life-long career of headhunting to retrain as a nurse, and now she couldn’t be happier.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
Helping individuals and small businesses access economic opportunity through payments and technology has been a big theme of my career. Omnichannel retailing for SMBs is hard–especially at the moment. Clearpay (known as Afterpay in the US, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada) is exciting because it gives small businesses the tools to engage with a wider and younger consumer audience offering them a flexible way to pay, which in turn increases the size of their orders, basket size and reduces their return rates.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
I really find inspiration in the stories of the tens of thousands of small businesses that Clearpay helps around the world. Recently, we have been working with a founder-Kay- who runs a great business called Amarante London. She has been assembling flowers in the back of her house since May and since then her business has grown x10. I love that in addition to beautiful flowers, the focus of the business is on farmers, fair-trade, sustainability.
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