What it does: provides loans, banking, and Fintech services in Pakistan.
Best known for: Developing Easypaisa, a smartphone app that makes it easy for users to pay bills and shop online.
Staff stats: More than 60,000 employees worldwide, up to 2,000 of which are in the company's offices in Karachi.
The good bits: Maternity, paternity, annual, and sick leave, as well as healthcare and insurance, are given to all regular employees. Interns are given stipends, and parents can take their children to the company's daycare facility.
The not so good bits: Questionable job security. Long-time employees have noticed major changes that the company went through after going from one CEO to another—salary packages have decreased and career progression is slower compared to previous leadership.
In 2006, Nadeem Hussain founded Tameer Microfinance Bank, which was eventually acquired by the Telenor Group from Norway in 2008 for an undisclosed sum. At this point, the company was renamed to Telenor Microfinance Bank.
The following year, the company launched Easypaisa, Pakistan's only GSMA mobile money certified service app. This development started the Fintech industry in Pakistan. In 2018, the Telenor Group and Ant Financial signed a joint partnership and invested USD 184.5 million in the company.
The company follows a well-defined code of conduct where employees can safely work together and earn opportunities to grow in their careers. Team leaders are supportive, and people work comfortably at their own pace.
The Telenor Group emphasises the importance of having a diverse workforce—by the end of 2018, Telenor employed almost 21,000 women worldwide and 28% of its senior leadership employees are women. The company also extends its efforts towards the safety of children online, educating young students about the dangers of unsafe online content. In 2018, more than 2 million children have been part of their Child Online Safety program.
Telenor has also collaborated with non-profit organisations to help enable people to have better lives through the use of responsible technology. The company worked with organisations including UNICEF and Plan International to create a positive technological impact on women and children in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.
Employees get to work with some of Pakistan's best fintech talent, and it urges teams to be more productive and produce better work. The company's ethical policy helps define the vibe in the office, creating a professional yet friendly environment.
Those who wish to work for Telenor Microfinance Bank may send their application through the company's career portal. On the website, applicants are given an online IQ test consisting of 30 questions on topics such as general knowledge and maths. Applicants are only given 30 minutes to finish the said test.
Applicants that pass are called in for an interview with the HR team. During this interview, applicants will be asked about their personal experiences and information about themselves. They may be asked about their academic history, extra-curricular activities, and some hypothetical questions.
Candidates who pass the first interview will be called in for another interview—this one is solely technical and will discuss working on projects. Chosen candidates are notified via email about the schedule of their job offer meeting. The entire process can be as long as three months.
A career at Telenor Microfinance Bank can be the start of a decorated career in fintech, may it be inside or outside the company. The current management is criticised for doing very little to ensure employees' career growth and talented employees are using their experience from Telenor Microfinance Bank to climb through the fintech ranks in other companies. Nevertheless, Telenor Microfinance Bank offers an experience that enables employees to take on the global fintech scene.
Interns at Telenor Microfinance Bank earn at least PKR 10,000 per month. As they turn into regular employees and be assigned to a specialised department, the salary can go as high as PKR 31,000 per month for entry-level employees. Those who end up as specialists or heads of their respective departments earn at least PKR 90,000 per month, and managerial-level employees can earn at least PKR 145,000 per month.