Payment Expert’s ID Check: Payments Professionals offers insight from industry leaders and experts on how they got their start in the financial industry, from their early years in education, to how they have been able to climb the corporate ladder.
This week, Nelson Castellanos, Chief Partnerships Officer, International, at embedded insurance provider, HDI Embedded, details his beginnings creating embedded platforms in place of legacy systems for some major companies and what went into his first ‘big breakthrough’ within the industry.
Where did you go to university and what did you study? What impact did this have on your current journey?
I studied Business and Finance at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, and it gave me the first sense of good business acumen as well as an understanding of financial analysis and financial modelling.
My degree definitely influenced what I do today, from presenting and building commercial offers or financial models to creating winning commercial strategies when answering an RFP (Request for Proposals). A business degree also gives you a commercial vision of how things work not only in the insurance industry but almost any other industry.
Were you part of any sports clubs or societies at university and has this influenced your educational and professional development?
Yes, and in fact, I think there’s a direct link.
I was part of the consulting club and another society centred around innovators/ entrepreneurs in tech, which was a great experience for when I later joined Capgemini. The consulting club gave me the skills I needed when I started my consulting journey. It helped me gain a broad understanding of important business transformation programmes and how technology is influencing each process.
I became one of the lead consultants on the financial services practise in less than two years after I started as an associate consultant at Capgemini. I didn’t plan to work in a consultancy after university but when I did, I was one step ahead.
Did you have any jobs outside of the industry before making your start in it and was this experience a motivation to get into the industry you aspired to be in?
I started my career at the Fast Track talent programme of a logistics company. Funnily enough, the first rotation was a business transformation programme, so I was effectively a business consultant during the first rotation of the programme.
Subsequently my consultant job at Capgemini gave me the full understanding about the different sub-verticals within financial services and the tech stacks that optimised processes. We saw those advancements using technology and as a result, the proliferation of different fintech companies.
However, that level of advancement was lacking in insurance/insurtech, there were no similar practical applications. So I took an interest in why this digital transformation hadn’t happened in the insurance industry. That’s the journey that brought me here.
What was the first job you had in the industry and are there any lessons from this you still draw on?
My first job in insurance was at an insurtech called SquareTrade where I was managing European Partnerships. Specifically, I was looking after the Iberian regions; Spain and Portugal. SquareTrade was the first insurtech unicorn and at the time, it was acquired for $1.4bn – a big acquisition, especially when insurtech was only just starting out.
SquareTrade had the first partnerships in insurtech at the time, setting the foundations for embedded programmes for brands like Walmart and Staples in the US and more. So that was my first job; managing partnerships and designing/ developing embedded insurance programmes for very large brands. I learned a few lessons during my time there, including:
Bringing value to customers as well as partners: I learned how to design embedded insurance programmes that bring value, not only to the distribution partner but also to the end customer. For the distribution partners, it’s always about commercials, commissions and managing the customer. But, it’s for the end customer, they needed the added value of well protected assets, devices and services.
There is no one size fits all approach: You need to create programmes and commercial offerings from scratch to meet the needs of different countries. For example, Spain and Portugal are often grouped as part of one region, but are totally different when it comes to consumer behaviour and purchase behaviour. So we need to analyse that.
Communication is key: Finally, SquareTrade had such a diverse team. We had team members from everywhere in Europe and the US, so I learnt how important it was to modify my communication style when necessary. Working with people from different backgrounds and cultures is one of the things I learned how to manage and is still useful for me now, especially now that I’m in charge of international partnerships.
Who was your biggest role model outside of the payments industry who continues to inspire you in your current career?
The person that comes to mind is Colombian artist, Fernando Botero. He became known for his craft, not because of any connections or contacts, but by being very good at what he does.
I was able to attend some forums with him and he always talked about having an innate drive and talent. He says you have to be responsible for your own success, and I think about that a lot.
I’ve been able to apply that philosophy to my own career; coming from Colombia and within a few years, making a name for myself in the UK without having any connections, but by working really hard.
When was your first big break in the payments industry? Why was this such a significant moment for you?
It’s hard to pinpoint an exact moment here but for me, if I had to pick, it was when I got to design and deliver a full embedded insurance programme from scratch; taking a company with a legacy programme and offering them something new.
It was a newly established company that was in the market for only about a year. When I joined, I built a full distribution team, helped define the product price, and brought it all together. Delivering a programme from scratch? That’s when you feel like ‘this is a huge breakthrough’.
Since then, I’ve taken up the role at HDI Embedded as the Chief Partnerships Officer (International) where I’m able to use everything I’ve learnt since then, and we’re helping our clients across a number of industries deliver tailored embedded insurance solutions.
Was there a moment you faced in the industry that really challenged you? How did you overcome this?
The pandemic was a massive challenge, especially for companies in the insurance sector that heavily focused on the travel industry. No one was travelling which meant no one was buying travel insurance.
The solution was trying to diversify portfolios very quickly and finding other sources of revenue. So when the world was finally ready to travel, we thought about which insurance products people would actually need right after COVID and started creating those.
Also as a result of the lockdown, people stayed at home rather than going out to shopping centres. We also turned to e-commerce and provided insurance for products that people bought online.
Lastly, what is some advice you would give to an aspiring person looking to get a start in your respective industry?
The first thing I would say is to be very curious and ask questions. Insurance is an industry that’s been around for a long time, with lots of areas and specialisms. There are also lots of different companies and elements on the insurance value chain that you need to learn about in order to get a good understanding of the industry as a whole. You need to be curious about what you really want to do in insurance, and I think that’s the first step.
My second piece of advice would be to join all clubs and university associations while you’re a student, and use them to your benefit. For me, joining clubs gave me knowledge of essential tools and an understanding of important business transformation programmes that shaped my consulting journey.
The third thing I’d recommend is to reach out to people for help, for anything. I get requests all the time from young people asking me to coach them and help them to develop and get to where they want to be.
I’ve helped to place people at my previous consultancy, Capgemini, and I’ve coached people to get roles in other businesses too. I understand that the first job is the most difficult one to get, and I would always recommend reaching out to people to get help where you can.
