Over the years, society has witnessed a sudden upsurge in women's leadership. However, there is a gap when it comes to finding women in technology. Only handful of women leaders are breaking barriers and proving that they have the skills, expertise, and vision to drive the industry forward. In this article by Women Entrepreneur, let’s meet one of the most successful and influential women in the digital industry, Sabina Kamal.

Throw some light on your experience before entrepreneurship.

With a specialization in Fine Arts and visual communications, I have spent over 25 years traversing the print, web, and interactive media landscape. My journey began as a graphic designer in traditional print media. I subsequently progressed to working as a visualizer for renowned companies such as Archies and Nirulas. In 1997, I embarked on a new chapter in my career by transitioning to a software MNC. This was a significant learning curve, as I had no prior experience in this field, with limited resources for L&D. It was a journey of discovery, learning, and experimentation.

It was also a great opportunity to learn coding and design my first website for Telegraph India. I was a part of the core start-up team as Creative Head of the first online ad agency, Brandquiver; a WPP & Times Internet company. Further, went on to set up and Head the e-learning and digital consulting Practice as Creative Director. Had the privilege of working with international brands such as Sony, TVS, Canon, Ricoh, Dominos, Best Buy, GE and John Deere, gaining expertise in UI Engineering. I worked on various Automation software projects; from Salesforce Automation applications to Learning Management Systems. I also had the opportunity to lead and manage large offshore teams and successfully deliver a plethora of projects before founding Xceed.

Elaborate about your shift into entrepreneurship.

My first company, Xceed was primarily focused on IT consulting and e-Learning content development for US customers. However, Mobiquest was purely a product-based company. This transition from services to products was a significant shift for me.

Vineet and I founded Mobiquest in 2008, focussed on Mobile Automation and resolving the Last Mile Data Challenge with the help of mobile applications that integrated with legacy systems. It was in the era of Nokia, Blueberry and 2G network. The evolution of devices and networks and our partnerships with Airtel, Blackberry and other OEMs played a crucial role in the development of digital experiences on apps for Video Streaming, TeleHealth. When we began, we had to deal with the challenges of creating content and applications that were device agnostic and localised for Multilingual support. Some of our successful large rollouts include the SFA for Abbott and Walmart amongst others. We have since then developed a range of products and witnessed immense growth, especially with M’LOYAL; a flagship disruptive product which has been widely adopted by our clients across the industry.

"Paytm provides us not only with a unified, simplified, and secure user authentication but speed to rewards with its vast merchant & partner network giving us a competitive edge; making paytm m’loyal the most reliable & trustworthy platform"

What factors are crucial for great digital experiences?

User-centricity and simplicity are key to developing effective digital experiences. Personalization of content is also crucial to create an impactful experience for users. Mobility and the evolution of Mobile Devices have played an important role; from designing for clicks to the ‘touch generation’ we’ve come a long way. Other than that, Lifestyle changes directly impact how users interact with digital products and services. This creates a lot of opportunities for the industry to evolve and create impactful experiences.

I am excited to see where the future of digital takes us with this whole new boom in communication & Fintech platforms and at the same time worried about the threat that looms over our heads of data security and the addictive world of notifications and endless scrolls.

Introduce us to PAYTM M’LOYAL and its uniqueness in the market.

We began our journey with Paytm five years back and today when I see what we’ve been able to accomplish I’m glad we chose Paytm. I am starting to understand the meaning of the words “Go Big or Go home’ on those coffee mugs each Paytmer today sips from. I am humbled and thrilled to share that today our Members across the various Loyalty Programs running successfully on the Platform sit on a Point balance of 5 Billion+ points. What started off as a disruptive SaaS-based loyalty, analytics, and precision marketing platform has evolved into an Enterprise Loyalty Marketing & Rewards Platform. The vast Paytm FinTech ecosystem enables us to empower loyalty with a high level of instant gratification and rewards in industries which had never thought will ever be able to resolve the last mile rewards pilferage and gratification challenges.

Our Clients Portfolio has expanded to serve larger enterprises across multiple industries, including oil and gas, Cement, FMCG, Automobile, Electronics for brands like ACC Cement, Hyundai and Piaggio, PETRONAS, Jio, and GAIL India. We are currently on the verge of rolling out what will likely be one of the largest loyalty programs in the country for Hindustan Petroleum. Being clubbed with Paytm strengthens the payments aspect of the platform, the high penetration and reach make it the perfect choice to host the Loyalty Platform. Imagine the pain of having to develop and install app on the Mobile phones of Influencers like Carpenters, Electricians, and Mechanics and enrolling members. Today Large Enterprises can really live up to their vision of impacting millions of lives down to Tier 3 and helping build the #bharatstory by connecting & enabling them with instant aspirational rewards.

Overall, we continue to work along with our Clients & Partners to continuously help recognise, analyse, adapt and build the Loyalty Quotient. Expanding and engaging with an ever-growing ecosystem of consumers, partners, and influencers through PAYTM M’LOYAL and empowering them by adding the Loyalty Nectar to their Business and ‘Be the Bee’ to take their organisations to the next level.

Sabina Kamal, COO & Chief Digital Officer, Paytm M’loyal

Sabina Kamal is working on incubating and architecting the next generation of Loyalty Data Driven Digital Product Portfolio which she is positive will create ripples in Digital Transformation across multiple industries they service. She looks forward to collaborations & partnerships for this journey with people who dare to dream big.