Couchonomics with Arjun

Payments in emerging markets are often discussed as infrastructure. But the real differentiation happens in how deeply payments are embedded into business operations. In the final episode of this special Qatar Development Bank series of Couchonomics with Arjun, Arjun sits down in Doha with Saad Ishfaq, CEO of TESS Payments, to unpack how a payments company built for Qatar is scaling by solving real operational pain, not just processing transactions. TESS Payments is a QCB-licensed payment service provider designed specifically for the Qatari market. Rather than chasing regional expansion, Saad explains why the company chose to go deep instead of wide, focusing on enterprise-grade flexibility, managed services, and bespoke integrations for large organisations across real estate, government, and critical infrastructure. The conversation explores how payments sit at the centre of SME enablement, why micro and small businesses remain underserved across the GCC, and how fintechs and banks must collaborate rather than compete. Saad also shares how TESS evolved beyond payments into CFO tooling and digital lending, including a new sandboxed lending platform addressing Qatar’s blue-collar workforce. From owning core infrastructure to navigating bank partnerships, regulatory sandboxes, and product adjacencies, this episode offers a grounded look at how fintech scale is built inside regulated markets. 🎙️ In this episode: • Why TESS Payments is built for Qatar, not regional expansion • Payments as an embedded operational layer, not a commodity • Solving CFO and CTO pain through deep integrations • SME and micro-SME challenges in the GCC • Why banks and fintechs must work together to scale impact • Building proprietary payments infrastructure in a crowded market • Regulatory sandboxes as a growth enabler • Expanding from payments into digital lending • Addressing financial access for blue-collar workers • Qatar’s role as a fintech launchpad • Founder lessons from Pakistan to Qatar • Grit, resilience, and building through constraint 👉 Watch the full conversation to understand how payments, regulation, and fintech innovation come together when products are built with local reality in mind. SOCIAL LINKS Arjun’s LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjunvirsingh/ Couchonomics LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/couchonomics-with-arjun-singh/ Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/couchonomics/ Twitter → https://twitter.com/Arjun_Vir_Singh TikTok → https://www.tiktok.com/@couchonomics Newsletter → https://bit.ly/3WI4A6E CHAPTERS 00:00 Qatar Development Bank series wrap-up 01:30 Introducing TESS Payments and Saad Ishfaq 04:00 Key global and regional payment trends 07:00 SME and micro-SME challenges in the GCC 10:30 Embedding payments into enterprise operations 13:30 Proprietary infrastructure and differentiation 16:00 Working with banks Our website 👉 https://bit.ly/3jk7UH0 Find us on our social media platforms: Arjun's LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/arjunvirsingh/ CCN LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/couchonomics-with-arjun-singh/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/couchonomics/ Twitter https://twitter.com/Arjun_Vir_Singh?s=20 TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@couchonomics Subscribe to Arjun's LinkedIn newsletter, Couchonomics Crunch: https://bit.ly/3WI4A6E