Paynt country director: 'Motherhood is the ultimate training ground for leadership'
“Being a woman in this space allows me to lead with a level of empathy and female emotional intelligence that is often missing in pure tech," says Kia.
When international payment technology firm Paynt needed a Country Director to lead their operations in Ireland, Cork woman Kia Morice was the ideal candidate – and Cork itself the ideal city for the company’s Irish base.
“Choosing Cork was a decision driven by both strategy and heritage”, explains Kia.
“I grew up immersed in the local business landscape, watching my mother and aunt build Central Bureau Services in Court House Chambers from the ground up.”
Other members of Kia’s family were behind businesses like Lane’s Builders, National Map Services, and Be Framed. Paynt – which specialises in tipping technology for the hospitality sector – was founded by Kia’s brother, Sam Kohli, and it has long been his ambition to establish an Irish base.
“Seeing his dream finally realised is a full-circle moment for our family,” says Kia, “and I’m incredibly proud to be on the ground here in our home city to make it happen.”
Kia was born into a family that she describes as “deeply woven into the fabric of the Cork community”.
Reminiscing on time spent with grandparents heavily involved with the local sports scene, she describes “such fond memories of growing up surrounded by a wonderful, tight-knit family and listening to lively ‘kitchen table post-mortems’ in Rosebank, where every match or round of golf was meticulously dissected! That environment instilled in me a deep sense of place, community, and belonging.”
Career choices took Kia away from Cork to London, where she worked in corporate relocation for many years, managing international moves for senior executives at firms like Citi, Goldman Sachs, PwC, and Diageo.
“In that world,” she explains, “the stakes were incredibly high. I learned early on that if a CEO’s family isn’t settled, that CEO isn’t focused.”
Honing these so-called ‘soft skills’ - relationship-building, stakeholder management and client trust – has stood to Kia throughout her career, and greatly aided her in her move to fintech when she took up her role at Paynt.
“What initially drew me to the fintech sector—and specifically to Paynt—was the realisation that technology alone isn’t a solution,” says Kia.
“Fintech sits at the intersection of regulation, innovation, and human connection”.
Kia moved home to Cork to launch Paynt’s services in Ireland in 2024.
Since its establishment in the country, the company has supported hospitality businesses nationwide with its cashless, point-of-sale tipping technology.
“Traditionally,” Kia explains, “a tip was entirely dependent on whether someone happened to have physical cash on them. If they didn’t, the gesture simply didn’t happen. What we are seeing now is that when you integrate tipping directly into the payment experience, it becomes a natural, consistent part of the transaction.”
According to Paynt, Irish clients using its digital tipping solution have reported tip volumes increasing by up to three times following implementation.
In recognition of the impact already made by the business since its launch here, Paynt was crowned ‘Best New Business’ at the recent Cork Business Association Awards.
Kia describes this as a “defining moment” for the company, but Paynt’s success in Cork does not come as a surprise, as she feels that the company and city’s values align.
She explains: “Building Paynt in Cork has been an incredibly validating experience. I expected the sense of community to be a driver, but actually living it has been a revelation. There is an openness here that is rare in many global business hubs.”
Despite confidence that it was the right decision, the move back home to Cork was a big step for Kia, who has brought with her a French husband and three children – two in secondary school and one in fourth class.
“I spent nearly 25 years in London. It’s where I studied, met my husband, and started our family,” Kia reflects. “We had a wonderful life in Barnes, which is a very close-knit ‘village’ within the city, and for a long time, the high-octane energy of London was exactly what we wanted.”
As her children grew older, however, the family’s priorities began to change.
Kia continues: “As my older children entered secondary school, I began to feel that London was losing its lustre. The shift in the city’s safety and environment made me realise I wanted them to have the same grounded, connected childhood that I’d had here in Ireland”.
Now settled in Rochestown, the family hasn’t looked back.
“A year on, I can firmly say that moving from London to Cork was one of the most successful decisions I’ve ever made for my family’s wellbeing,” says Kia, adding that her only regret is that they didn’t do it sooner!
The close sense of community in Cork and reconnecting with her extended family have been highlights of the move for Kia, who says that the “support and warmth” of her aunts and uncles, in particular, “have been the anchor we needed while finding our feet”.
As well as making new connections, Kia and her husband have also sustained their London relationships, with friends making regular visits over the Irish Sea to explore all that Cork has to offer. She jokes of her frequent guests: “When Cork Airport announced record visitor numbers last year, I felt I had a lot to do with it.”
As if settling her family into Cork wasn’t enough, Kia has also been navigating the enormous challenge of building a business. Cork’s strong community values have once again helped with this, as Kia commends the “proactive nature of the support” that she has found here.
As Kia confidently leads Paynt’s success in Ireland, she is proud, as a woman and mother, to not fit the traditional ‘mould’ of a country director.
“I bring a completely different perspective to the table,” she explains. “Being a woman in this space allows me to lead with a level of empathy and female emotional intelligence that is often missing in pure tech.”
Kia’s advice to any woman considering a career in fintech is clear: Go for it. “Don’t let the ‘tech’ in Fintech scare you,” she says. “I joined this industry with an unrelated degree and a long career break under my belt, and I quickly realised that motherhood is the ultimate training ground for leadership”.
Kia believes that nobody should be afraid to pivot in their career.
“You are not starting from zero, you are starting from decades of emotional intelligence and strategic thinking.”
Having taken a career break herself when her children were small, Kia also urges women to bear in mind that “career breaks are not gaps, and unpaid work is not invisible. Whether you were raising a family or chairing a charity committee, you were growing... We control our destiny. So stop hesitating and just do it.”
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