Empowering Operational Excellence - A Case Study on Pay4Me
- Tobi Lafinhan
- Apr 30
- 5 min read
For fast-growing startups, momentum is everything. Scaling successfully requires the right infrastructure and operational discipline, and these are often put in place by a few critical senior hires. If this isn’t set up early in a company’s lifecycle, it can become a lot harder to establish.
Pay4Me, a fintech transforming how African students and families make cross-border tuition payments, found itself at this critical juncture.
The company had already gained significant traction by solving an urgent problem: enabling seamless tuition payments across borders. But with ambitious plans to double its gross transaction volume (GTV) and annual recurring revenue (ARR) within a year, growing pains were becoming apparent. Leadership was stretched thin, processes lacked structure, and decision-making had become increasingly reactive.
What Pay4Me needed was clear: a senior operator who could bring order to the chaos, build scalable systems, and free up leadership to focus on strategic priorities.
But hiring for such a role is rarely straightforward. A mis-hire could mean months of lost time, wasted resources, and stalled progress, not to mention degraded employee trust. The challenge was about finding the right expertise on one hand, but also ensuring that the hire could step in and drive results immediately.
Venture for Africa (VFA) offered an alternative approach.
Instead of committing to a full-time executive hire before fully validating the role, Pay4Me partnered with Venture for Africa (VFA) to trial a more flexible approach, bringing in a senior operator on a structured, short-term basis and allowing both the company and the candidate to assess fit before making a long-term decision.
The Challenge
As Pay4Me’s transaction volume increased, operational inefficiencies began to surface:
Slower onboarding: New hires took longer than expected to ramp up, delaying their ability to contribute meaningfully.
Siloed departments: A lack of structured collaboration between teams led to bottlenecks that slowed decision-making.
Unclear governance: Without standardised processes, execution was inconsistent, adding unnecessary friction just as the company needed to move faster.
Sunday Paul Adah, Founder and CEO, and his leadership team were deeply aware of these issues but had limited bandwidth to address them. As he put it, “We were constantly in reactive mode. Instead of proactively setting up systems, we were putting out fires.”
The company needed someone who could not only implement structure but do so in a way that didn’t slow momentum - a rare blend of strategic thinking and hands-on execution.
The Matching Process: Finding the right Operator
Finding the right operational leader for a high-growth startup isn’t just about identifying candidates with strong resumes. It’s about understanding the company's real needs and ensuring that the hire can make an immediate impact, while ensuring a culture fit within the existing team.
VFA worked closely with Pay4Me’s leadership to refine the role’s true requirements. Beyond operational experience, the company needed someone who could:
Implement scalable processes without overcomplicating execution.
Align teams and bridge strategy with day-to-day operations.
Work autonomously while integrating into an already fast-moving startup culture.\
The initial engagement would include specific deliverables and goals for the candidate to reach over a set period of time, which would help to determine long-term fit.
Talent Sourcing & Selection Process
Leveraging our extensive network of experienced operators and startup leaders, we surfaced multiple high-calibre candidates, each of whom brought unique strengths to the table. The sourcing process included a combination of:
Direct outreach within the VFA network to engage operators with relevant experience in scaling startups, fintech, and cross-border financial operations.
Internal database searches to identify candidates with strong track records in operational leadership.
Targeted referrals from trusted VFA alumni and advisors who understood the complexities of scaling a fintech startup in Africa.
From this process, we built a shortlist of candidates, each with distinct strengths:
Candidate A had a strong fintech background, having successfully driven rapid revenue growth while significantly reducing churn. His expertise made him an appealing choice for a commercially-focused operational role.
Candidate B brought deep experience managing cross-border payment challenges in African markets. His knowledge of regulatory frameworks and hands-on leadership style positioned him well for leading operational execution in a highly regulated space.
While both candidates were strong contenders, Pay4Me needed more than just an expert in operations or compliance.
Paula Jares Cánovas emerged as the ideal fit. With her proven ability to bridge high-level strategy and hands-on execution, she had scaled teams across multiple geographies, implemented operational frameworks, and worked as a strategic partner to leadership teams.
VFA had conducted a deep-dive discovery with Pay4Me’s leadership to refine the role’s core needs, and it became clear that the company required someone who could go beyond operational execution to serve as the crucial link between leadership and functional teams - a challenge Paula was uniquely equipped to tackle.
Paula’s Impact at Pay4Me
From day one, Paula focused on identifying Pay4Me’s biggest operational bottlenecks and implementing practical, scalable solutions.
1. Establishing Operational Clarity
One of the first issues Paula tackled was the lack of structured documentation and workflows. She formalised internal processes, creating a framework that streamlined onboarding, compliance, and performance tracking.
“A lot of information was flying around in different places. My goal was to create a system where people could onboard faster and get clarity without relying on informal knowledge transfer.” – Paula Jares Cánovas
This documentation became a key resource for the growing team, reducing friction and ensuring that new hires could contribute faster.
2. Aligning Teams for Better Execution
Beyond fixing workflows, Paula introduced a structured approach to goal setting by implementing OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). This ensured that every department, from finance to product, was aligned with the company’s broader vision.
She also took over weekly management meetings, turning them into structured, action-driven sessions rather than reactive check-ins.
“Before Paula, meetings often felt like brainstorming sessions without clear next steps. She brought a level of discipline that helped us move forward with more clarity.” – Paul Adah, CEO, Pay4Me
3. Freeing Up Leadership to Focus on Growth
By taking ownership of operational execution, Paula allowed Paul and the leadership team to focus on fundraising, partnerships, and product expansion without constantly being pulled into day-to-day execution challenges.
4. Positioning Pay4Me for Scalable Growth
With the foundation of operational stability in place, Paula turned her attention to long-term scalability. She worked with leadership to:
Assess the timing and readiness for expansion into new markets.
Ensure pilot programs were supported by solid operational frameworks.
Optimise cross-functional collaboration to reduce inefficiencies.
The Outcome: A High-Impact Trial-to-Hire Success
Paula’s contributions over the trial period were significant, and Pay4Me saw immediate benefits:
Faster onboarding → New hires ramped up 2x faster.
Better alignment → Teams operated with clearer priorities and fewer silos.
Increased leadership bandwidth → Paul and other executives could focus on growth initiatives without being bogged down by executional bottlenecks.
With a stronger operational foundation in place, Pay4Me was in a better position to scale efficiently. Seeing the value of her impact, Paul and the leadership team decided to continue working with Paula, ensuring continuity as they refined their long-term hiring needs.
Conclusion: A Smarter Approach to Hiring Senior Talent
Pay4Me’s journey highlights an important reality for scaling startups: hiring isn’t just about filling roles; it’s about de-risking decisions and ensuring the right fit.
Many startups view hiring as an all-or-nothing decision. They either commit to a full-time hire or delay key hires out of fear of making the wrong choice.
VFA’s trial-to-hire model helps startups bridge this gap. By providing experienced operators on a structured, low-risk basis, companies like Pay4Me can get immediate operational support while ensuring long-term fit before making a full-time commitment.
“I've worked with multiple recruiting firms, and this was by far the best experience. The level of engagement, the quality of candidates, and the structured process made all the difference.” – Paul Adah, CEO, Pay4Me
Operational complexity is inevitable as you scale. What matters is having a clear strategy to bring in the right talent—people who can integrate seamlessly and make an immediate impact.
Looking to make a strategic hire without the risk?
Learn more about how Venture for Africa can help at venturefor.africa/startups.
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