PayNearby announces two strategic leadership hiring

By Leandra Monteiro

PayNearby, an Indian branchless banking and digital network, recently announced two strategic leadership hirings to further strengthen and expand its Distribution-as-a-Service (DaaS) network.

The company has appointed Vishal Khanna as the ‘National Head of Sales’ and Alok Jha, as the ‘Head of Strategic Initiatives’. The latest appointments are tactically aligned with the company’s plans to drive growth, through DaaS, across emerging businesses and channel partners, while bringing millions at the last mile into the formal financial fold.

Vishal Khanna who previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics – a Google Pay Project, brings with him 20 years of vast experience across several sectors like FMCG, retail, telecom sales & distribution and FinTech, with a special focus on strategic business planning, business network development, clients & merchants relationship management and expert market penetration.

Prior to joining PayNearby, Vishal has also worked with Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Tata Teleservices, Apollo Tyres, Birla Tyres, and Home Solutions Retail. As the National Head of Retail Sales at PayNearby, Vishal, will drive acquisition and growth strategy to diversify the company’s retail network and double its footprint while offering partners the much-needed access to the rural heartlands and scale. His role will be to make PayNearby the benchmarked financial service provider in the country by enabling a sales and distribution network.

Alok Jha brings to the table over 30 years of rich experience in internet-based businesses including B2B e-commerce, service aggregation and payments while helping businesses expand quickly and profitably. His focus has been chiefly in the fields of fintech and telecom while having worked with many renowned companies like Blow Plast, Mudra Communications, Forbes, and Suvidhaa Infoserve among others. During his last stint with Ease Venture Private Limited, he was the Managing Director & CEO and prior to that he was the Managing Director of CyberPlat, a Russian MNC in the FinTech space. Apart from being as a seed investor Alok is also an advisor and mentor to many start-ups and incubators.

With experience expanding across the field of pharmaceuticals, furniture, apparel, advertising, e-commerce and payments, Alok has an affinity to go-to-market sales strategies for young-stage industries, large corporates and MNCs. His core strength lies in business mentoring & scaling, understanding consumers across various spaces, building and working with teams and growing businesses that revolve around customers, services and brands. At PayNearby, his role will be to strengthen the company’s strategic initiatives while bringing efficiency to the marketplace through digital and financial enablement. He will help the company expand its portfolio while driving innovation for its customer and retailer base.

Speaking on the appointment, Anand Kumar Bajaj, Founder, MD & CEO, PayNearby said, “We are delighted to welcome Vishal and Alok into the PayNearby family. These leadership appointments are strategically aligned with our aim to fortify human capital within the company and have people with the right skills and experiences who will help us reach the next level of growth. Alok is a veteran with expert strategic experience across industries. He has showcased his leadership prowess in several assignments involving B2B e-commerce, fintech and payments. His pivotal role in advising and mentoring start-ups to success showcases his extraordinary skills as a business leader. Vishal’s incomparable proficiency in sales and adroitness strategic business planning is imperative to our future expansion goals.

We are delighted to join forces with people who are strongly aligned with our vision for the company and look forward to benefitting from their decades of expertise in the field. We have an ambitious and aggressive growth plan in the coming months, and they are the right fit to make the right impact and fuel our continued success as an industry leader. As we continue to accelerate our next-generation DaaS platform, we look forward to employing their adroitness and leadership in their corresponding fields to achieve extensive growth and take PayNearby to new heights and Bharat to an empowered future. PayNearby, Zidd Aage Badhne Ki.”