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Diversity plays well in changing marketplace than when I started," he said. "The tapestry of the industry
is beginning to look more like the whole of the country."
Women and minorities have long been under-represented That diversity is most apparent with the feet on the street,
in merchant acquiring. "When I started in this business not in executive suites, Bishota noted. "But in time that
there were only two Indian guys, and I was one of them," will change, too," he said.
said Dee Karawadra, founder and CEO of Impact PaySys-
tem, a Cordova, Tenn.-based ISO. And women feet on the One reason may be that millennials, and the next-in-line
street were a rarity, too, said the Tanzanian native. "The Gen Z, have been entering the workforce. "The younger
industry has changed a lot. I think that's at least in part generations don't see things as much black and white as
because it's become more of a customer service play," he older generations do," Karawadra said.
said. "It's no longer about who you are, it's about what you
know." A recent report by John Zogby Strategies – The Zogby
Strategies Comparative Report on Millennials and the Future of
Charlene Mitchell, chief analytics officer at Electronic Pro- Leadership – drives home this point.
cessing of North America, offered a similar take. "If you
show up and deliver on the things you said you would, "Millennials are highly networked, steeped in technology
you're already differentiating yourself," she said. [and more] diverse than any cohort before them, and gen-
erally believe diversity – not merit – is paramount to creat-
Karawadra, a 20-year industry veteran, said his decision ing the ideal workplace," the report stated.
to bring his daughter into the business demonstrates his
belief that merchant acquiring has become more accept- Gen Z (which Zogby defines as adults born between 1998
ing of women and minorities. He also has been recruiting and 2001), while still young and only now entering the
minorities and immigrants as agents. The latest new crop workforce, likely will push for even greater changes, Zog-
of trainees included three people of color. by conjectured. "If millennials are a window, then Gen Z
is even more diverse and prefers the workplace to be so as
As an immigrant, Karawadra noted, he had one advantage well," the report stated.
over competitors when he first began selling merchant
services: a "trust factor" with other immigrant-owned From emerging economy to emerging market
businesses. "Hotels and gas stations became my niche be-
cause of that," he said. When Eveline Dang moved to the United States as a teen-
ager, working in a payment processing company wasn't in
Entrepreneurship and generational changes the cards. Six-years later, while completing a business de-
gree, she chose as her senior thesis topic payment process-
Charles Bishota, who is also originally from Tanzania, ing in emerging economies. Dang thought she'd return
agrees. "As an immigrant you can more easily relate to someday to her native Vietnam and contribute to creat-
other immigrants than you can to non-immigrants," he ing a payment processing infrastructure for that emerging
said. Bishota arrived in the United States 23 years ago. "I economy. In the meantime, she was recruited to help run
had $300 in my pocket when I came here," he said. But he a payment processing company focused on the emerging
had great aspirations, seeing America as a land of oppor- cannabis market.
tunity.
"There are similarities between the cannabis market and
After graduating from business school he attended a emerging economies," said Dang. For example, as is the
job fair where he met with a recruiter from Chase Pay- case in emerging economies cannabis is largely a cash
mentech, which at the time was a partnership between business, since transactions originating from cannabis
Chase Manhattan Bank (now JPMorgan Chase) and First businesses are banned by the leading card networks due
Data. Bishota knew nothing about merchant acquiring, to federal prohibitions on the sale and consumption of
but he was keen on working with entrepreneurs and soon cannabis.
was infused with a passion for merchant acquiring. "I love
this industry," he said. "I don't see myself ever leaving." Dang and Max Miller co-founded Paybotic to address the
transaction processing needs of businesses in the can-
When First Data and Chase parted ways in 2008, Bishota nabis sector, developing a cashless ATM solution. Also
remained with First Data for a time before leaving to at- known as point of banking solutions, cashless ATMs are
tend law school. Today he has an ownership interest in POS devices that function similarly to ATMs. Customers
an ISO and his Dallas-based firm, Bishota Law, specializes initiate payments using PIN-authorized credit and debit
in working with entrepreneurs in payments and financial cards, which then clear through regional ATM networks.
technology. Transactions post either as debits to purchasers' check-
ing accounts or as cash advances from their credit card
Like Karawadra, Bishota has witnessed a growing diver- accounts.
sity in merchant acquiring. "It's absolutely more diverse

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