George Okorie

I have always been a consultant. Started my career in banking and pivoted quickly into consulting for about five years before transitioning into the payments industry.

My decision to join Be UK was an easy choice for four main reasons: My passion for payments (although not yet a nerd!) having worked in the payments industry. After moving back into the industry, I was itching to get back into consulting (especially payments consulting) and Be UK was going to offer both worlds (Payments and Consulting). The clincher for me though was the seamless recruitment process. I experienced next level courteousness and friendliness in the recruitment process that I hadn’t experienced before. Finally, the level of depth in payments expertise the partner exhibited during the interview process made it very clear this was the right place for me. While I was looking to add value to the company, I was also looking for a coach/ mentor/ leader in payments to shape my career. So, I guess it all aligned perfectly for me.

I joined the firm at the beginning of 2023 after relocating from Nigeria late 2022, and in the first five-six months of joining Be UK, I worked on a very interesting and technical payments project. The project had a pan-European scope that cut across all key stakeholders in the payments ecosystem, hence it helped me to transition quickly into understanding the payments dynamics across key European markets in such a short period. Working with the team, we were able to deliver a successful project. Post that project, I have been working closely with the payments leadership team in driving business development and training for practice.

In the last 3 months, I have also been involved with driving payments regulation knowledge body within the practice – developing key insights from key payments regulation in the EU and the UK.

I would say Be UK’s culture is friendly, open, inclusive, and caring.

The friendly culture of the firm was palpable from my engagement with the head of recruitment – Chris Wells on LinkedIn. I have also experienced this culture on a day-to-day basis from the Partners to all my colleagues. Its indeed something worthy of emulation.

The openness is seen and experienced every day in the office and during meetings. The leadership is very accessible, and they maintain an open-door policy.

The inclusive culture for me is evidenced in how I have been treated so far. As a black person, I do not feel secluded from my colleagues or deprived of any benefits. The company has quite a good representation of different backgrounds and that is commendable. Inclusivity is also seen in the opportunity we are given to drive firm-wide initiatives regardless of the level within the firm.

Caring: Be UK is big on charity and good works especially with the homeless people/ less privileged. It is a way of life expressed and embodied by the leadership. The tone and atmosphere within the firm portray a sense of psychological safety and genuine care that is not commonplace. As an aside, the amount of fruits and snacks in the kitchen also make coming to the office a worthy endeavour…😊.

I love meat!…  and that’s it!!! 😊

I do not enjoy drinking beer… 😊

I have 2 kids