Valerie Moran

Work hard and give 100% to your work effort. Leave no stones unturned so that at least if you have to walk away you know you have given it your best shot.

 

Entrepreneur Valerie Moran brings a refreshing air of tenacity to the worlds of FinTech and philanthropy. Now, Head of Client Relations & Operations at Prepaid Financial Services, she held the honour of being Employee No.1 in 2008 as the company’s Implementation Project Manager. Over the years, her analytical mind and suave management style have helped to put the company on the global Regulated Financial Services map. Valerie lives in Ireland with her husband Noel Moran. Together, they are one of the world’s most successful couples in Financial Technology. Their company has now returned profits for 10 consecutive years and is eyeing an IPO.

Valerie was born in Zimbabwe to a family of 5 children. Her mother was a Beautician and her father ran several of his own businesses simultaneously – butcher, bakery, school uniform factory, and property investments. Growing up, her father worked extremely hard and this same work ethic has remained with his daughter.

After school, she dreamed of working in the medical field as a Nurse or a Radiographer. However, it was not to be as her parents discouraged these career paths and saw them as futile for several reasons. Valerie went on to attend college and studied COBOL/Fortran/C (programming language) and other related Programming Courses. She progressed to become a talented Systems Analyst.

Her parents greatly influenced her life, especially her mother. At home, schooling was promoted and the importance of how education gives independence and with hard work leads to success. Valerie comes from a family where her aunts and uncles were highly educated and were Professors and Deans at universities. Just like them, she always wanted to emulate and aspire to be successful one day in her own career path.

She admires people who have enjoyed phenomenal success and have given back to their communities. Someday, she would absolutely love to meet Richard Branson and Bill Gates. The sheer intelligence and mastermind behind what both men created intrigues her.

Closer to home, a local man she admired who recently passed away was a politician named Joe Reilly. She says he gave himself selflessly and was open to everyone. He contributed to the growth of his local town and gave back to the community. Valerie finds this particularly inspiring.

Her favourite Writer is Agatha Christie. To Valerie, she is timeless and had a prodigious imagination. Valerie’s husband Noel bought her the entire book collection one Christmas. It remains one of her most treasured gifts.

Where did the idea for your company come from?

The idea to set up PFS came from my husband Noel. He had worked in the industry and he discussed and sold the idea to me. When he mentioned the plan, I thought it was definitely worth having a go and besides what would I lose? I could just have found another job if it did not work out. Thankfully, it did.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

My typical working day is made up of about 15+ hours from 9 am until around midnight. During the working day, I spend time trying to catch up with Team Managers to help things move along, especially where they are waiting on decisions from me. After the normal working day, I then get time to catch up on emails and my own workload.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I discuss them with Noel and we agree if they are worth pursuing or not. If they are, then we come up with a plan to make them happen. We are still a small company, so once we decide to do something then the plan to deliver it is put in place very quickly.

What’s one trend that excites you?

We have day-to-day reporting on our growth, the comparison showing the growth day-to-day and year on year. This is an exciting trend to watch.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I never stop listening, learning, and taking on board feedback and comments from my staff and employees. I am a good communicator and I believe that this helps me to be productive as an Entrepreneur.

What advice would you give your younger self?

I should have taken more risks in my career and not always taken the safe road.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Work hard and give 100% to your work effort. Leave no stones unturned so that at least if you have to walk away you know you have given it your best shot.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Determination, a proactive approach, and never settling. Knowing that someone out there is already working on a better solution and I ask how I can do better.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

Learning to trust other people to run my business and the delegation of workload. I would need to have been convinced that the individuals would have had the best intention for my business. Over the years, I have been proved wrong.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

If I genuinely had a good business idea that I thought was workable I would be setting it up myself. But all joking aside! if I was setting up a new business I think it would be along the lines of property development and the different ways to serve that area.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive? How do you use it?

As a technology company, we have our own platform and I use this on a day-to-day basis to manage our clients and the different areas of the business.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Anything by Agatha Christie is a hit.

What is your favorite quote?

“Great things in a business are never done by one person,” Steve Jobs.

Key learnings:

• A strong work ethic will take you anywhere.
• Education = freedom.
• Have heroes you can look up to.
• Dream of making your local community a better place.
• See an idea through to its conclusion – you never know where it will lead.

Connect:

www.twitter.com/prepaidFS