Introduction: Andrea Linehan is listed as one of the top 30 most influential Marketeers. She is a regular speaker at conferences and universities on subjects such as Marketing, Branding, Financial Inclusion, Social Entrepreneurship, Fintech start-ups/scale-ups and many more. After 10 years in Oman she returned to Ireland to join, as CMO, a FinTech start-up  called GRID Finance.  After 5 years she joined Currency Fair. Currency Fair Enterprises and Assembly Payments merged in April of 2021 to form the new company called Zai. Andrea holds a BSc(HONS)in Finance and is a Postgraduate of the Chartered Institute of Marketeers. She hold an MBA from Trinity College Dublin and is a Chartered Management Accountant.    Podcast Episode Summary This episode explores the Merger of two scale-up companies, Currency Fair Enterprises and Assembly Payments, and the work involved in bringing two top teams together. Conscious of the anaemic success rates of merged entities Andrea shares how her company and especially because of her CEO Paul Byrne, committed the time, multiple workshops across a diverse population of representatives to get aligned on the fundamentals: Purpose, Mission, Vision, Attributes and Personality. This work was completed against a backdrop of business as usual, Covid and the regulatory/legal machinations of combining two entities. Much of the work was completed over zoom.    Points made over the episode Andrea shares how she started her academic life studying computers but by year three discovered she needed to pivot to Finance and Accounting.  Andrea initially figured she would join one of the big four but after exploring what these entities might mean she joined Aer Rianta and a role in the Middle East  She moved to Oman without a job and quickly found her footing. She found herself too in Oman. She was shaped as a woman and learnt so much about different cultures  Fintech found Andrea. When Andrea returned to Ireland, after 10 Years in the Middle East she was curious to know what direction to take her career. She chose to do an MBA at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.  She was fortuitously introduced to the two founders of a FinTech start-up by her Professor, Eoin O Neill of TCD.  She joined the FinTech company called GRID Finance and worked there for five  years Andrea then shares the story of the merger of FinTech Currency Fair, where she joined as CMO and Assembly Payments, made in part possible by the investment of Standard Chartered Ventures.  The Merger was announced in April 2021.  Andrea describes how the Merger made two scale-ups slow down when so much else about the company was moving at pace.  Two macro forces, The Merger process and Covid meant a lot of moving parts and added complexity.  All of this work was happening over zoom  The two top teams, the task force and many colleagues had to build trust over zoom The success of this process was in large measure down to the willingness of the companies to take the time to form a task group and do the work necessary to peel back the layers to determine what really mattered for each entity in terms of values, mission, visions, attributes &personality  The two companies, Currency Fair and Assembly Payments realised they were enormously aligned.   A proposal made by Andrea to the Board to look at the Branding for the merged entities made these various conversations meaningful and possible.  The process involved bringing the two top teams together along with representatives from both sides of the business from different parts of the business to form a task team.  Importantly the two entities did not go at this work alone and instead brought in an independent expert from Human Dynamics to support the work.  The new company name emerged as Zai.  This first piece of tangible work completed by the two merged entities instilled a lot of confidence for the future.  Andrea shares what the work entailed.  The work to create a Minimum Viable Brand. Work was completed on creat