Sam Pemberton Ahmed

Leading e-commerce and fintech innovation at scale for blue-chip companies – Smartpay, Starbucks, Mastercard, Standard Chartered Bank, and Facebook. He has been leading digital business in the Asia-Pacific region for over 20 years.
Graduated from Harvard Business School.
Industry recognition:
·Top 10 Alumni Leaders from Harvard Business School 2023 CEO review 2023
·Most Innovative Digital Financing Solution- Japan 2023 Pan Finance (Smartpay)
·Top 50 Digital Leaders Asia Pacific APAC “Digerati Awards” Drum Magazine (Voted by Industry) 2018
·Asia Pacific CMO of the Year: Marketing Professional of the Year 2016
·Global Top 33 Leaders: The Internationalist 2015

Founded Smartpay in 2021 - Japan's first digital embedded finance company introduced several first-to-market features in Japan. For consumers, Smartpay is the first in Japan to offer consumers BNPL no interest, no late fees, and free of charge services. It provides the only checkout process with credit card or direct from bank account with a hassle-free fully automated installment experience. Smartpay is the only payment company in Japan that has signed and integrated with the 20 largest banks in Japan and over 200 credit unions thus accessible to 90% of Japan's population with bank accounts.