Menekse Gencer founded mPay Connect, a consulting service to assist financial institutions, mobile network operators, third party platforms, development agencies, and governments seeking to launch mobile financial services. Her market expertise extends from North America to emerging markets such as Bangladesh, Jamaica, and sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to founding mPay Connect, Ms. Gencer led PayPal Mobilenull;s Business Development efforts in North America for two years during which time she closed PayPalnull;s first mobile network operator deal to launch PayPal Send Money on Sprintnull;s mobile wallet in 2007-2008. Since then, her clients have included three of the top four US Banks, a global payments network provider, mobile network operators, bKash (Bangladesh), The Inter-American Development Bank, two central banks, The World Economic Forum, The mHealth Alliance, and Global 500 Professional Services firms. She is a recognized expert in this field and has lectured on mobile money at events for The State Department, Harvard Business School, Wharton MBA, Haas, Stanford, and Columbia Business School. She published a whitepaper for the mHealth Alliance and the World Economic Forum which was distributed at The World Economic Forum Davos Annual Summit on mHealth and Mobile Finance. She is a guest speaker at mobile money conferences in Africa, South Asia, and The Middle East and is a board advisor to six startups in this space.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. She was recently chosen by The State Department as one of 37 Tech Leaders to mentor upcoming women business leaders from the Middle East and North Africa. She is the founder of the Mobile Payments SeriesTM 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 null; mPay Connect. Menekse has 18 years of experience as a consultant and industry leader in high tech, mobile, and financial services. Fun Fact: Menekse swims in the San Francisco Bay all year round without a wetsuit.
