Team Spotlight & Power Hour Episode 8 features Khaled Moharem, our President — Middle East, who discusses his most important values.Hear from him on what is coming next for WadzPay, and how he ensures that the regional goals are aligned with the global company’s strategy.Head to our Youtube Channel to listen to his insights.Team Spotlight
Tell me what is your vision statement for WadzPay in MENA?
We will be the preferred platform when it comes to digital assets. And I want to see the day when people make payment, and there’s a digital asset involved, they say we WadzPay it.We built an agnostic blockchain-based payment ecosystem that offers availability, scalability, performance, and agility of the network.
What are the most important values as a leader for you?
Trust is the central pillar in any relationship, personal or professional, I believe everything is built on trust. and trust does not come easily. You need to practice that daily …… respect, transparency, lead by example, and first to address any challenge. Team building, work environment, and a lot of brainstorming. Many discussions are crucial for the team to see the vision. What are we trying to achieve and every one of them should own a piece of that? I think that’s how you can lead and manage a team in an environment where people come to work happily. They understand their value in the big picture. so, communication transparency brainstorming is the primary key to achieving trust.
What advice would you give to the 25-year-old of your version?
I will give too much advice. Twenty-five years old was not too far away; it was just another 25 years. However, is it the right thing to look back? I don’t think so, and I believe I made many mistakes and can correct that easily today. But I think the mistakes I made are the reasons to be the man I am today. You do learn from your mistakes and you have to make them, you have to fail at a point in time. Most important is standing up and not repeating the error.I have no regrets looking back and I would love to repeat my past as is. because that’s how I created an understanding of life. Life is a journey, and you need to enjoy the experience. We learn from the past and we will continue learning …there is no end to that race.
Who are your biggest inspirations?
Without a doubt, my mother. She’s a strong woman and a fighter. She teaches you fundamental values in life. So for her to achieve a mission, failure is not an option. You need to accomplish the task, and it’s OK to fail, but it’s crucial to learn how to stand up and fight and put in front of you the objective you want to achieve. and I think until today, she is my biggest inspiration.
What are your favorite unwinding activities?
I used to play tennis before, and horse riding is an addiction. And I learned recently in the past five years meditation. You need to switch your brain off some time. meditation helps me relax and have peace in our busy lives today.
Power Hour
WadzPay is growing and expanding massively; how do you determine priorities for your department?
That’s an excellent question, and it’s an important one. You need to have a task list with an objective to achieve daily, weekly, and monthly. That’s very important to do and be organized, but however, the market, technology, and our lives in general today are changing very fast, and you need to be agile and flexible. You need to adjust because at the end of the day, whichever plan you put will change to the market, clients’ needs, and priorities. The requirements do change, so it’s vital to be agile and match the needs to keep your plan and priorities as flexible as possible.
What are you most proud of regarding the company?
It’s not a moment; it’s rather the team that I’m proud to be part of — a great experience around payment and blockchain. In general, better to surround yourself with smarter people than you are, so you continue learning. And I’m very proud of the team in the organization, from the headquarters to the regional offices, the open discussion we are all having together. Not only to learn but to think outside of the box and come up with new initiatives. Remember that we are here to change payments as it is today, and we are trying to introduce new technology to the market, which I believe, and we think that it is tomorrow’s future. I feel proud to be part of this team.
What do you expect from your team?
I expect everyone in my team to own the business to act as the owner when they come to the office or take a decision, empowerment is critical. They need to keep the interest of the company, the industry, and the financial community in general in front of them. So I expect everyone in the team to own part of the business.
How do you ensure that the team is always motivated to deliver to their best?
The work environment is important, as you can see many people change their jobs because the environment does not fit them. The role of a leader is to create such an environment that people trust each other — again, coming to trust as a central pillar — transparency, communication, and understanding the vision and everyone’s role in that and the growth path they have. Open discussions, freely give ideas, and challenge others. I think that would create a great work environment that people do stay in and like to perform differently and innovatively.
What is your goal for WadzPay? And how do you ensure that the regional goals are aligned with the global company’s strategy?
Our main goal is to build our brand name in the market as the preferred blockchain-based payment platform. we also have commercial goals. And both are very much relevant, happier clients equal growth of client base and revenues. Looking at the long-term relationships, strategic decisions, and also taking the extra mile.Alignment with the global company strategy. Today it’s pretty easy because we are a small team and communicating the strategy is not a complex task. It becomes more complicated when it comes to thousands of people communicating with each other. But again, the key to that is communication. The more we talk to each other, the more we meet, discuss and brainstorm. It brings everybody aligned and in sync with what we want to achieve together.