Women Leading the Way: How Beam's Female Talent Drives Payment Innovation

In the competitive landscape of fintech, true innovation requires more than just technical expertise, it demands diverse perspectives that challenge conventional thinking. At Beam, where women make up half of our workforce, we've discovered that diversity isn't just a metric to achieve, it’s a strategic advantage driving groundbreaking solutions.

Breaking the Mold in Fintech

The statistics speak volumes: globally, women account for only 30% of the fintech workforce with even fewer in technical or leadership roles. At Beam, we've cultivated a different reality.

Our experience-driven payments platform thrives precisely because of the diverse perspectives shaping our solutions.

"Having diverse teams isn't just about meeting quotas, it directly impacts how we solve problems," notes our CTO. This isn’t accidental. It stems from intentional efforts, from inclusive hiring practices to growth opportunities, that empower every team member to thrive.

Beyond Job Descriptions: Excellence in Action

What sets Beam apart isn't just that we have women on our team, but that these professionals consistently transcend traditional role boundaries to drive exceptional value. Their contributions illustrate why diversity isn't just about representation, it's about results.

Turning Compliance into Competitive Advantage

Take Ryan, our Project Manager whose impact extends far beyond traditional project coordination. While ensuring regulatory compliance,  she's also transformed how we engage with partners. 

"What many see as constraints, Ryan sees as creative challenges," notes our CEO. Her fresh approach to regulatory requirements recently turned a potential roadblock into a competitive advantage for our merchants.

Designing the Future of Payments

Meanwhile, Whaen, our Head of Design, ensures Beam remains at the cutting edge of user experience. 

"Great payment design isn't about following trends, it's about anticipating user needs before they can articulate them," she explains.

Her leadership in UX design led to a 12% increase in returning shoppers, directly impacting our merchants’ bottom lines.

Fraud Prevention that Saves Millions

The payments industry faces increasingly sophisticated challenges, from fraud prevention to ever-changing regulations. Our experience demonstrates that diverse teams are uniquely equipped to navigate these complexities.

Pluem, our Legal lead, exemplifies this through her exceptional work aligning our systems with Bank of Thailand requirements. Beyond mere compliance, she’s developed predictive fraud prevention protocols that have significantly reduced chargebacks year over year, translating directly to merchant savings and customer trust.

"Security and user experience are often positioned as opposing forces," Pluem explains. "My focus is finding the sweet spot where they reinforce rather than restrict each other."

Redefining Merchant Relationships

Traditional payment providers often prioritize sales over problem-solving. Mook, our Business Development lead, has pioneered a consultative approach that transforms how we engage with merchants.

"My job isn't to sell, it's to understand," she says. By prioritizing deep discovery of merchant pain points before proposing solutions, Mook has not only improved our conversion rates but fundamentally changed how clients perceive payment service providers. The majority of merchants who joined Beam from the very beginning have stayed with us, with low churn rates and continued trust in our solutions and support.

This value-driven methodology has rippled throughout our company, influencing how we design, implement, and support our payment solutions.

Marketing with Merchant Success at the Center

The difference between good marketing and great marketing often lies in who benefits from the story being told. Fon, our Head of Marketing, embodies this distinction through her merchant-centric approach.

"The most powerful marketing isn't about us, it's about what our merchants achieve," Fon explains. Rather than crafting campaigns that highlight Beam's features, she's pioneered a strategy that showcases merchant success stories and quantifiable outcomes.

This approach has not only increased our conversion rates but fundamentally altered how merchants evaluate payment partners. Through data-driven case studies and transparent ROI metrics, Fon has established Beam as a trusted payment companion rather than just a service provider.

One recent campaign under her leadership focused on real-world merchant success, the campaign drove a 77% YoY GTV growth across participating merchants. Notably, 30% of merchants achieved their highest-ever GTV during the campaign, reinforcing the idea that when businesses grow, Beam grows with them. 

Cultivating the Foundation for Innovation

The capacity to innovate depends largely on organizational culture, an area where Ploy, our People Team Lead, has made extraordinary contributions. Beyond standard HR functions, she's architected a workplace environment where cognitive diversity flourishes.

"Inclusive environments don't happen by accident," says Ploy. "They require intentional design, constant refinement, and genuine commitment." 

Her initiatives have created space for authentic collaboration regardless of age, gender, background, or thinking style, resulting in measurable improvements in both innovation metrics and higher employee retention rates. 

The Multiplier Effect

What we've discovered at Beam is that diversity creates a multiplier effect. When people with different perspectives collaborate, the results speak for themselves:

• A  faster problem resolution in cross-functional teams

• Higher NPS scores from merchants working with diverse teams

• More comprehensive risk assessment leads to better decision-making

• Greater adaptability to market shifts and emerging payment technologies

Beyond Representation: The Path Forward

While we celebrate our progress, we recognize that meaningful diversity goes beyond gender ratios. True inclusion requires an ongoing commitment to creating environments where all perspectives are valued and can influence outcomes.

Our journey continues with initiatives to:

• Share our learnings with the broader fintech community

• Deepen our understanding of intersectional experiences

• Measure the concrete business impact of diverse teams

The Competitive Advantage of Authentic Inclusion

In the rapidly evolving payments landscape, the ability to see problems from multiple angles isn't just beneficial, it's essential. Beam's experience demonstrates that companies embracing genuine diversity gain significant competitive advantages through enhanced innovation, stronger merchant relationships, and more robust solutions.

This International Women's Day, we celebrate the women at Beam not because they're women, but because their exceptional talents, amplified by our inclusive approach, drive us toward our vision of creating the world's simplest checkout experience.

The spotlight shines brighter today, but their impact illuminates our path throughout the year, proving that when diverse perspectives unite around a common purpose, extraordinary results follow.

Beam is an experience-driven payments platform committed to simplifying payments through innovative technology and human-centered design. Our diverse team powers solutions that make payments frictionless for businesses across Southeast Asia.