Key Resources

Eric Chinkanda has extensive experience in banking, operations and projects spanning 44 years. He is currently in projects and digital banking consulting.

Eric Chinkanda served as Chief Operating Officer for CDH Investment Bank from 2012 to 2015. Eric Chinkanda had previously held the position of Head of Operations in Nedbank, Indebank and Capital Bank Limited of Botswana. He had also served as Head of Administration for National Bank of Malawi.

Eric Chinkanda has successfully managed projects for the banks he had worked for. He helped in the conversion of CDH Discount House business to CDH Investment Bank, Malawi (CDHIB). He led projects teams in the implementation of the Core Banking System (Flexcube) at Indebank and CDHIB. He implemented new branches from inception to finish at CDHIB, Indebank and Nedbank.

Eric Chinkanda has served as Director for Indetrust Holdings Ltd. and as Bank representative in the National Payments Council (NPC) and the Bankers Association of Malawi.

Eric Chinkanda holds an MBA awarded by the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI), Arusha (Tanzania) and a Diploma from the Institute of Bankers (United Kingdom).

Mr Oliver Fomunung has joined United Pay Ltd in July 2017 and is our Business Development executive for Central Africa. Mr. Oliver Fomunung has over 15 years’ experience in the the financial and non-financial service sector, spanning from Africa to North, West and Central Europe.

Over the years, Oliver has garnered a wide range of skills and expertise including: commercial negotiation, financial management, credit risk management, executive level business development, team leadership and problem solving.

Having started his career at  MBN Bau AG, Germany,  in the Finance Department, he later moved on to HSBC UK in the Credit Risk Department before joining Samason Denmark as Business Development Manager, where he was responsible for developing strategies to grow and maintain client portfolio.

Since 2012, Oliver is the Founder & Managing Director of Samason Global, a diversified full service firm providing Project Management, Asset Management, Business Consultancy and Printing Solutions to persons and organisations in Cameroon. Oliver is responsible for the company’s overall strategic planning and direction, business development, sales operations, marketing, financial reporting, capital and balance sheet management.

Of note, as Project Managing Director of the Samason Credit Bureau Cameroon, Oliver was responsible for spearheading the establishment and operation of the first Credit Reference Bureau in Cameroon (CEMAC).

Oliver holds an M.A International Business and Management from the University of Applied Science Osnabrueck – Germany and a B.Sc. (Hons) Accounting and Finance from the University of Buea – Cameroon. An entrepreneur and natural leader who combines passion and business acumen, Oliver is currently pioneering the introduction of SME Credit Rating using alternative data to facilitate SME access to finance.

Francisca Ellonye is a seasoned payments professional and has joined United Pay Ltd as Managing Partner, Ghana. She has accumulated over 20 years of experience in Bank Card Business Management, Business Development, Sales, Customer Service and Project Management.

Throughout her career, she had the opportunity to build a diverse set of skills and capabilities in several renown organisations, namely: Ghana Commercial Bank, Ghana, as Manager, Merchant and Customer Service; Mediterranean Smart Card Company, Egypt, as Senior Consultant; Guaranty Trust Bank Ltd, Ghana, as Head, Card Services; briefly with MasterCard as Leader, Commerce Development, West Africa, in Lagos Nigeria; SG – SSB Ltd, (now Société Générale Ghana), as Head, Card Services; and Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, Ghana, as Merchant Sales and Service Manager and then subsequently as Card Business Manager. More recently, she was the Head, Administration at GN Bank Ltd, Ghana.

She managed the project that introduced VSDC (Visa Smart Debit Credit) /EMV Card Payment Solution in Ghana, successfully setting up a wide network of Point Of Sale and ATM acquiring infrastructure for card acceptance services. Moreover, as Head of Card Services, she was responsible for the overall management of the various aspects of Cards Business including, Card Issuing, Card Operations, Risk Management, Merchant Sales and Servicing, MIS, Customer Service, Card Sales and Services.

Francisca holds a Certificate in Bank Card Management from VISA/IFS. She also holds an MBA, (Management Information Systems option) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussels/University of Ghana and a B.A. Economics and Sociology from the University of Ghana.

Francisca has strong analytical, negotiation, presentation and selling skills. She is a regular trainer on cards and payment solutions and has led, motivated, coached and developed high performing staff.

Dr Mohinder Singh Phogat has joined United Pay Ltd as a senior banking consultant and responsible also for business development . He will also be responsible to drive the consultancy services in the space of Banking, Finance, Management, Micro Credit, Financial inclusion and banking practical training program

Dr. Mohinder Singh Phogat is a seasoned professional of the banking industry where he has accumulated around 40 years’ worth of expertise and mastery. He has a sound understanding of planning and execution in banking and financial institutions from preparation of the project plan to establish and successfully run the institutions, writing policies and manuals of banking,   HR management, amalgamation and merger of banks, management of  academic institutions, team building, strategy, motivation, leadership coaching and training.

Throughout his long and fruitful career, Mohinder has had a distinguished span at Bank of Baroda, where he had the opportunity to hold various management and leadership positions, namely: Corporate General Manager (Recovery); Chairman of Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank; Regional Head, Bank of Baroda Faizabad Region; Deputy Regional Head, Agra region; Chief Executive/Territory Head for Seychelles; Chief Manager (Training) Faculty at Bank of Baroda Staff College Ahmedabad; Senior Branch Manager; Senior Manager Administration; and Manager Credit in various branches of Metro Region Delhi.

Amongst his key achievements, Mohinder lead a bank with 700 branches and nine regions having operations in 21 districts of the Rajasthan State, along with the successful amalgamation of three banks, when he was Chairman of Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank. Besides, during his stint at Seychelles, he was also the Chairman of Seychelles Bankers Association and Director at Seychelles International Business Authority. Moreover, he is also quite active in the academic field, being a regular motivational speaker and having undertaken several research studies and published some articles and a book entitled ‘Leadership Lessons- Straight from the Heart’.

Mohinder has a Ph.D. in Management from the M D University Rohtak, India, and M.Com. from Rajasthan University, India and a B Com. from Kurukshetra University, India. Having excellent communications and relationship building skills and a good knowledge of industry trends and best practice in banking and training.

Nalin Wijeratne has joined United Pay as senior payment consultant and is responsible for Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Indonesia. He has gained wide experience in the card industry in all aspects of card operations, which include technical knowledge, dispute resolution procedures and risk management. His forte in the card business is the risk management area.

Throughout his career, Nalin has had the opportunity to work for several renown banks and financial institutions  in Sri Lanka, either as Consultant or as part of the Cards teams, namely: Bank of Ceylon, Hatton National Bank, National Development Bank, Sanasa Development Bank Ltd, Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka, Commercial Credit and Finance Plc and Lanka Orix Finance Plc, amongst others. At the Bank of Ceylon’s (BOC) Card Centre, he was a member of the team that introduced the first branded global credit card – Visa credit card in Sri Lanka. Besides, he was responsible for the set up of the card operations at Hatton National Bank’s Card Centre. Moreover, amongst his numerous consultancy assignments, Nalin had the opportunity to implement several Visa and Master Card debit  & credit card programs. He is also an expert regarding payment Card fraud investigations.

Amongst his special achievements and contributions to the payment card industry in Sri Lanka, Nalin was able to negotiate with both Visa and MasterCard Asia-Pacific to install a Visa Net Access Point (VAP) and MasterCard Member Interface Processor (MIP) in Sri Lanka to establish connectivity to both these payment organizations. He was also elected as the Chairman of the Payment Card Industry Association of Sri Lanka (PCIASL) which allowed him to share his insights during collaborations with the Central Bank of Sri Lanka and the Government, e.g. on the introducing the Payment Devices Fraud Act No 30 of 2006 to deal with payment card frauds investigations. He also conducted several training courses for members of the different Police departments, e.g. Terrorist Investigation Department (T.I.D), Criminal Investigation Department (C.I.D), Colombo Fraud Bureau, Narcotics Bureau and also at the Police Academy on payment card fraud and investigation procedures.

Nalin has received several appreciation awards throughout his career from both Visa and MasterCard International as well as from Dinars Club, JCB and Amex  for the contributions made to the card industry in Sri Lanka. Nalin is a regular participant at seminars and workshops conducted by Visa and MasterCard international held overseas and he has visited several overseas banks (notably in Singapore, India and Indonesia) which have implemented credit card management systems.

Chris de Beer has joined United Pay Ltd on the 1^st August 2017 as the Project Director and he is also responsible for Business Development (SA). With 11 years’ experience from communications to the financial sectors, managing medium to large projects and programmes across the different project methodologies.

He was exposed to the card payment industry initially as the Postilion Card Services Manager for Mercantile Bank Limited, and eventually managing the entire payment channels for the bank before pursuing his goals as an independent consultant.

As a consultant he worked on compliance and innovative projects for various banks, including Bank Windhoek, Standard Bank and Nedbank.

The highlight of his career has to be the achievement of being part of the Stratosat Datacom (Pty) Ltd team with the Schauenburg International Group who won the tender issued by SKA (SA) in 2012 to design, build and install 64, 13.5 meter Offset Gregorian deep-space telescopes for the MeerKAT project. The first 4 antennas were completed at the SKA site near Carnarvon in the Northern Cape at the end of March 2015 which was a major milestone for him as a project manager on this programme.

Chris has also a wealth of experience in EMV, Card System and Project Management.

Chris is an articulate person with vast credible experience and demonstrated career progression. Studied for his B.Com. (Economics) degree at UNISA, Certified with a Project Management [PMBOK] [DMS], Agile Project Management accredited by APMG-International as well as ITIL and Cobit. Has a record of ensuring projects are delivered to the highest quality, within budget by effectively organising, managing and utilising all resources, providing clear guidance and leadership to a team and ensuring that all legislative requirements are fully met.