4 minute read
VIKTORIA SOLTESZ PSP Angels
by PaulGC
VIKTORIA SOLTESZ PSP Angels
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Founder of PSP Angels
Q What motivated you to pursue a career in accountancy?
I was always a very technical person and I loved maths from young age.
I used to live in England whereby I was working for the biggest accounting software provider company at the time, SAGE, so they offered free training on accounting and I had the experience to talk to real company owners about their real problem with finances.
So when I moved to Cyprus, 11 years ago, when the offshore culture was booming, setting up my own consultancy was an obvious path to enter.
Q How was it making the transition from the shipping industry to the derivative trading industry?
I had my private tax and finance consultancy parallel with my employment in shipping, so during this time, I was dealing with a lot of different clients from different industries. We are now specialized in payments and banking, which is not strictly related to trading - we are helping companies from every industry.
Q You are now based in Malta, is there a lot of difference between the working practices of Malta and Cyprus?
There are several differences in terms of business. “Malta smells like business” they say, and its true: everyone has the start-up mind and enthusiasm to make it work. There are several different meetups, business gatherings and opportunity for networking. Great ideas fly around in every conversation. Malta’s government is also very innovative and offer a lot of help to companies, which further helps businesses to thrive. Cyprus has a more traditional attitude towards business and innovation. Both islands have their own individual benefits of course.
Q If the readers are not aware you are the founder of PSP Angels. Why did you start this?
During my 11 years of private consultancy I have been dealing with several high risk clients and start-up companies, and the first issue which I had to resolve was always about the banks and the payments: “the funds got stuck in the payment service provider’s account, the bank closed the account out of the blue, banking fees are extremely high...” and so and so forth. Plus, in this industry everything is changing very quickly so the merchants were always having nightmares keeping up.
We have created PSP Angels 2 years ago, to help these merchants save time and the nerve of dealing with all this. We screen the market to see what is available out there at the moment, by partnering up with different payment service providers, banks and acquirers.
Once the clients contact us, we understand their business and requirements and apply on behalf of them with all the providers who offer the relevant service and the business is within their risk appetite. We collect all the offers and let the client make an informative decision where to keep their money. What’s better - this search for the merchants is free.
Q What tips would you give to others starting out on their own?
Unfortunately I saw more companies fail than fly, so I would recommend to have a very solid plan before starting anything. Many companies start their operation without understanding every detail. Just for instance - 90% of the business plans which I have seen excluded card processing fees completely.
Q What separates PSP Angels from its peers?
We are trying to find a solution for every merchant regardless the size and business activities. We are open and transparent, and very responsive.
Normally companies would go to a cashier for payment processing recommendations - we believe this could be a mistake, as any technology provider can only recommend the solutions which they have already integrated with, therefore many solutions are excluded. Their goal is not to screen the market but to lock the company in with their preferred provider and get the client pay for their fees as an extra on top of the processing fees.
The payment industry is changing all the time - so whichever solution is perfect for you today might not be good in 6 months’ time. We understand the market inside out and we can recommend additional services to the business - integrating crypocurrency payments, setting up fraud prevention, chargeback solutions, payment insurance, etc. based on the business’ individual needs.
Q How easy is it to use your service? One thing that often holds me back using a new provider is the extra leg work for no net gain. How can you help?
Very easy. We have a chat with the business to understand the requirements and ask them to give us the basic information about the company, so we can start the free search. Instead of filling numerous
Viktoris Soltesz Founder of PSP Angels
application forms with several providers and banks, in all different shape and form, we do everything – for free.
Q What’s the best way to reach out to you, to have a brief chat about your services?
Visit our website at www.pspangels.com for our phone numbers or email us at info@pspangels.com