BigPay 

Committed to our vision, our people and our customers. Rising to the challenge everyday.

Always happy to help,
Let's grow! 💪💙💪

Chief Product Officer

Chapter 3: Path to Profitability. 

Set Product culture, structures, and product operating model that allow us to improve Product Efficiency across 5+ squads in order to transition to scale up mode and reach profitability. 

Co-Led our Embedded Finance solution with one of our superstar PMs. 

Trained and coached the Product team.

Principal, Product Ways of Working

Chapter 2: Growth at All Cost. 

Led key strategic initiatives including Payout Payments APIs, Engagement and Gamification, Ministry of Finance initiatives for financial inclusion, 

Set the Product foundations for Thailand Market Expansion.

Product Lead

Chapter 1: From Zero to One. 

Built BigPay Product from scratch to multiple Geos and Business Lines, including Payments, Analytics & Remittances, across Singapore and Malaysia reaching 1 Million downloads. 

Built a strong Product and Design team of twelve and the foundations of BigPays Product Culture and Processes across the organization.

Head of Product

Purpose Driven Fintech

I speak with Founders, CEOs, and CPOs to understand the challenges of our industry and how to better build products and FinTechs with impact across customers, colleagues and profitability

I release new episodes every Tuesday and you can listen or watch in YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts or your favourite platform

Reach out to be part of the pod

Podcast Host 

PayEd - Education in Payments

Advisory Board Member

Connecting the dots in FinTech...

APAC Newsletter Contributor & News Curator

Tandem Bank

Consultant, CEO Office

Service Design Delivery Manager, CEO Office

- First member of the Banking Products team. Employee num. 18th. 
- Led credit cards design and implementation from zero to pilot launch

Product Manager, Banking Products

barclaycard

Product and Propsositions Manager Small Business Cards

Existing Customer Manager Small Business Cards

Visa

Global Client Sales Account Manager, CEMEA

Banco del Ahorro Nacional y Servicios Financieros BANSEFI

Product Development Manager

Empowering FinTech Product Leaders to navigate complexity with purpose, passion, and impactful conversations for inclusive financial well-being I Join to connect, learn, and lead the industry forward.🚀

Hello 👋 I’m a hands-on product leader with a proven track record of building and scaling digital banking solutions across multiple geographies.  I am mission driven (because money has been a pain point, and it didn’t have to be like that).

I thrive at the intersection of a fast-paced entrepreneurial culture, customer centricity, and solving real problems with actual impact.

*Results Oriented*

At BigPay, one of Southeast Asia's largest NeoBanks, I’ve helped steer our product through three critical phases: Zero to One, Growth at All Costs, and now, sustainable Path to Profitability - growing the customer base to over 1.37 million users. We are known mainly as a travel solution and increasingly becoming a day to day app. 

My expertise spans from product design, delivery and growth, team building, and driving the cultural shift and ways of working necessary to go from startup to scaleup. 

At Tandem Bank, I helped build from scratch, and worked with Tandem's CEO on strategic initiatives and Board management. 

*Achievements & Impact*

1. Product Growth & Innovation: 

Led the development of credit cards, BigPay’s prepaid card with its app, remittances, a payments API, an embedded finance solution for airasia, and engagement initiatives to meet evolving needs.

2. Strategic Planning: 

Collaborated with the CEO and ExCo to shape product strategy, aligning squads on growth, innovation goals, OKRs, and resource planning.

3. Expansion: 

Launched BigPay’s product in Malaysia, Singapore, and empowered teams to launch in Thailand. 

4. Cultural Transformation: 

Established a strong Product Operating Model, guiding BigPay’s shift from startup to scaleup.

5. Team Building: 

Recruited and mentored a high-performing product and design team, setting a scalable foundation.

*Knowledge Sharing*

I host the Purpose Driven FinTech podcast, where I interview FinTech Founders, CEOs, and leaders on how to build differentiated FinTech products that drive 10x impact. We cover customer needs, solving pain points, and leadership insights.

I’m keen to explore:
- Incorporating AI into existing workflows
- Building AI-powered products
- Staying at the forefront of AI innovations

I’m recognized as one of Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech, I’ve spoken at Money2020, and am an active mentor for women in Fintech and new to FinTech.

*Let’s Connect*
 
If you’re a leader, founder, or innovator passionate about transforming FinTech and driving real impact—I’d love to chat!

We can ideate, collaborate, podcast, mentor & coach.

Monica

Monica Millares 🎙️

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX)

Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) is a pioneer in the global impact investing movement, dedicated to reshaping finance for sustainable development with a focus on gender equality and climate action through capital mobilization and data-based solutions.  

For over a decade and a half, we've been building the sustainable investing market, from establishing the world's largest crowdfunding platform for impact investing (Impact Partners™), operating award-winning enterprise technical assistance programs, creating innovative financial products such as the Women's Livelihood Bond™ Series, (listed 6 bonds in the public market with zero credit default) and establishing an Impact Institute and Research & Advisory. 

While we are very deep with our work in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa, our work spans 60 countries globally where we have invested close to $500 million of private-sector capital, positively impacted over 160 million direct and household lives, and avoided over 1.9 million metric tons of carbon and have collected over 90,000+ data points on sustainable micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

Vice President -Strategic Initiatives (CEO's Office)

Mediamax Consulting

Mediamax Consulting is a registered entity through which I channel my passion for innovation & capacity building through academia and consulting. It is powered by a team of freelancers (up to 12) on a project basis.  

Academia: 
I work as an Adjunct Lecturer with Institutes of Higher Learning to design and conduct entrepreneurship, innovation & marketing modules/workshops for diploma and undergraduate students. Key Institutions include PSB Academy, Republic Polytechnic and Coventry University. I have a Teaching Effectiveness and Rating of 92% across the board. 

Consulting: 
- Collective Wisdom: A P2P Knowledge Community where junior and mid-level executives can monetize their knowledge/experience and members can learn through hyper-context-driven 60-minute sessions. EARN & LEARN through collective wisdom as every story has a value

-Other Projects: Monarch ESG, Democratising Sustainability through pro-bono consulting for impact startups (Examples include Tomohouse, ESGold, Sporegarden)

-Sunset Projects: 
Tothedu (Ad-hoc tuition during Covid) 
MLabs/Terrasole (3d printed footwear)
Letter Vault (Accessible time capsule for letters)
Media Licensing Content from Europe into the Asia-Pacific

Co-Founder

With over 15,000 members across 60 chapters globally, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) is a non-profit organization with a mission to foster entrepreneurship through mentoring, networking, education, funding and incubation. With a focus of giving back to the community, TiE’s focus is on generating and nurturing the next generation of Entrepreneurs.

Key Programs: Global & Regional capacity building initiatives aimed at fostering entrepreneurship & innovation ecosystems.

Chief of Staff to TiE Global President & Member of the Global Board of Trustees

Singapore chapter of the TiE Community: TiE Singapore was founded in 2001 by a group of successful entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and senior professionals to enable the Singapore entrepreneurial ecosystem to grow. 

TiE Singapore is a vibrant ecosystem of Asian entrepreneurs, Capital Institution providers, community builders, industry professionals and Thought Leaders. It is a non-profit that inspires entrepreneurs through its training, mentoring and networking programs.

Key Programs include: TiE Stars, TiE Angels, TiE Huddles, TiE Global Summit 2023 in conjunction with Singapore Fintech Festival 2023

Chief of Staff to TiE Singapore President

Ecosystm

Chief Of Staff to the Group CEO and Founder of Ecosystm Group. Ecosystm Group is a key enabler of innovation with 4 main divisions serving over 350 enterprise clients.

1. Ecosystm
A digital tech market research company that works with some of the biggest technology providers and enterprises from across all industries. From Insights to Execution, the Ecosystm Value Chain offers four distinct offerings that can be provided independently or as part of an integrated campaign.

2.Ecosystm Consulting
Ecosystm Consulting levereges a wealth of technical, functional and industry-specific expertise to craft customised thought models and frameworks that deliver measurable results for our valued customers.

3.Kampd
Kampd is an enterprise SAAS community platform for like-minded professionals to engage with each other within communities of interest anchored around relevant and curated content.

4.Co-Ventured
Powering world-class innovation & technology* discovery for corporations, venture builders, vendors & governments via our AI enabled innovation discovery platform. We aggregate as many data sources as we can find; public & private databases, AI tools, news, research, patents, & any emerging data sources our clients find effective all in one place.

Chief Of Staff to Group CEO (Ecosystm Group)

Ecosystm is a digital tech market research company with over 150 enterprise clients around the world. Ecosystm works with some of the biggest technology providers and enterprises from across all industries. From Insights to Execution, the Ecosystm Value Chain offers four distinct offerings that can be provided independently or as part of an integrated campaign.

Chief Of Staff to CEO (Ecosystm)

Aaqua

Crafted blueprints for founding communities. 
Drafted strategic partnerships and geared up the ecosystem for MVP product launch on Dec 21'

Ventures | Partnerships

Working with Global Sports, Media, and Entertainment rightsholders, publishers, and communities.

Content Acquisitions and Partnerships

ONE Championship

Based out of ONE Championship’s HQ in Singapore under the Global Media Rights team, we oversaw the distribution of media rights across 150+ countries.

From pitches to contract negotiation and daily account servicing, the team oversaw all processes to guarantee the highest Reach, Frequency and Engagement and Value for ONE Championship. This covered all products under the ONE Championship - Martial Arts, eSports and General Entertainment. 

I have also had the pleasure of working closely with clients across India, Philippines, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Korea, Taiwan, New Zealand and the US.  

My primary portfolio of clients includes: ABS-CBN, 5Network, Star India, Disney+Hotstar, Prosieben, JTBC, IB Sports, Elta, Eleven Sports, Turner, BR Live, TVNZ and Spark Sports.

Global Media Partnerships

BBDO Singapore

Account Servicing for the VISA APAC account, covering 14 key markets.
This included managing multiple stakeholders and rolling out regional projects across key corridors. 

Key Projects: 
- Cross Border Initiatives 
- Contactless Payment 
- Tokyo 2020 Olympics Campaign

APAC Account Management

Octagon

Served as an Account Coordinator at Octagon, the world's top agency for sports entertainment marketing and talent management.

Octagon (IPG: NYSE) is the world's largest sponsorship consulting practice, managing and influencing some $3 billion in sponsorship-related spending annually, and is a pioneer and leader in athlete & personality representation & management.   With more than 800 employees worldwide, Octagon works with hundreds of blue-chip corporate clients, more than 800 athletes & personality clients and manages more than 13,400 events per year. 

I primarily work on Mastercard and her assets/initiatives over the 6 markets across South East Asia. 

Some of the interesting projects/assets I have had the opportunity to work on:
- Mastercard presents The Chainsmokers 
- UEFA Champions League 
- Mastercard Theatres
- 2018 Asian Games 
- Mastercard SEA Golf Platform

SEA Account Management

JTC LaunchPad 

At JTC LaunchPad I rotated across different start-ups to support their marketing strategies at different stages of growth. This came in the form of digital, social, influencer, and brand marketing. 

The rotating position allowed me the opportunity to work with different entrepreneurs, mentors, and projects. 

Key Startups: 
- Caption Cube
- Hacker Trail
- Popular Chips

External Attachments: 
- Packdat
- Newby Teas

Start-up Marketing Consultant

Republic of Singapore Air Force

Planning and executing a range of security duties/protocols covering an airbase

Regimental Police 

Market Intelligence & Startups | Adjunct Lecturer | NUS MBA

"We are the only species on the planet that consumes more than we contribute" and deep down we know this to be true. There is an urgent need for change in the unsustainable financial systems that drive, spur and encourage irresponsible human behavior. 

In my current role as the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), I have an opportunity to align my passion, mission, vocation, and profession toward a single goal: adding value to the world by unlocking capital for women, disadvantaged communities and the environment in innovative and effective ways.

IIX is a pioneer in the global impact investing movement, dedicated to reshaping finance for sustainable development with a focus on gender equality and climate action through capital mobilization and data-based solutions. Over the past decade, our work has spanned 60 countries, unlocked up to US$500million of private sector capital, avoided over 1.9 million metric tons of carbon and impacted over 160 million direct and household lives.

With nearly a decade of experience in Partnerships and Operations, I’ve spent the past six years working directly with Founders and C-suite leaders across APAC, driving innovation and capacity-building initiatives. I’m passionate about well-executed partnerships when they defy traditional math and create 1 + 1 = 3. 

Snapshot of past key highlights include working on 9 successful product launches, 3 large-scale multi-million-dollar events, and 2 business reality TV shows.

I hold an MBA in Strategy & Organisation from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and a business degree in Marketing & Management from the University of Newcastle (UON). 

Outside of work I try to dedicate 7 hours a week to: 

- Pro bono consulting for pre-seed impact startups.

-My passion project, Collective Wisdom, under Mediamax Consulting.

-Volunteering as a writer across grassroot programs that connect people in need with government agencies.

If you are game to effect change let's connect and take a step towards a more innovative, inclusive and equitable world.

#Ora et Labora

taplio

The Battle

Monica Millares 🎙️

Kenneth Edward

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?