Ian Francis

Ian built his career as a partner at Ernst & Young, working with a broad cross section of Board level executives in a number of industry sectors. His clients included Asda plc, Royal Mail Group plc, Intel Corporation, PolyGram, Exel plc, EMI plc and Urenco.

In 1994 he was seconded to Aegis Group plc (global media buying, turnover £3 billion) to act as group finance director for a year, playing a key role in securing the group’s future by radically improving the group’s management reporting process, driving the annual business planning process, strengthening the focus on cash and treasury management, retaining all key finance personnel during this period of real uncertainty and delivering the annual results with no surprises, lifting the credibility of the group with the markets.

The insights Ian gained from this experience of Board dynamics and effectiveness helped him to pursue his recent career as a non-executive director, working with listed and private equity companies. The role he played with Umeme, the Ugandan privatised national electricity distribution business, was very special because of the social and commercial implications of expanding the network in a country where only 10% of the population had electricity.

Ian supported the initial turnaround of the business and the successful listings on the Uganda and Nairobi Securities Exchanges. Ian joined Paysafe, a leading edge Fintech company that is FSA registered, when it was a small, loss making AIM listed business and has supported it’s journey through to it’s admission to the FTSE250 index.

Ian’s approach to Mentoring is to focus on unlocking the untapped potential that resides in all of us. He is passionate about helping people to overcome the invisible hurdles that hold them back and to achieve success.

Board mandates

Present Non-Executive Appointments

Paysafe Group PLCNon-executive director, AC chairman
Prepaid Services Company Limited Chairman, Non-executive director (FSA registered)

Past Appointments

Umeme Limited (Uganda)Non-executive director, AC & Remco chairman
Ernst & Young London Audit partner
Aegis Group plc Acting Group Finance Director
Arthur Young Brisbane Audit senior secondment
Wilkinson Wilberfoss NZ Audit trainee