CM September 2020

INTERVIEW
SMALL TALK
Satago CEO Sinead McHale talks
cashflow, behavioural informatics and
the survival of small businesses.
AUTHOR – Sean Feast FCICM
AS businesses navigate their way
out of lockdown, many will
question how they can continue
to prosper amidst a backdrop of
economic uncertainty. Sinead
McHale, CEO of award-winning
fintech Satago, believes that technology will
play an essential supporting role in the months
ahead.
Since starting her career in finance, Sinead
has held senior management roles in New
York, Dublin and London across a variety of
industries including banking, investment funds,
and alternative business finance. She holds
a master’s degree in Strategic Management
Accounting, giving her a unique perspective
on small businesses, their relationship with
their accountants and their cash management
challenges.
Founded in 2012, Satago leverages behavioural
informatics, artificial intelligence and open
banking to provide credit control, risk insight
and ethical and transparent single invoice
finance for businesses and accountants.
The survival of small businesses is a
particularly pertinent topic for Sinead because
as well as being a small business, Satago works
for small businesses. The all-in-one cash
management platform was designed to help
SMEs avoid credit risks, get paid faster and
cover cash gaps when they need to.
“Good cashflow management will be essential
if SMEs are going to survive the months ahead,”
she says, ‘‘I believe that Satago is in the best
position to help businesses navigate these
difficult times. That’s one of the reasons I am
delighted to be joining CICM as a Corporate
Partner at this time.”
As part of their partnership, Sinead has
offered all CICM members free access to the
Satago platform for three months. “I believe
CICM members will very quickly recognise
the value and support that the platform can
give them in managing their cashflow. Satago
is proven to help businesses avoid credit risks
and get paid faster, two things which will be
essential as we exit lockdown.”
Sinead has an impressive CV across various
sectors of business and finance, having started
her career in 1999 with the Equity Derivatives
Group of Deutsche Group. Prior to joining Satago
she was COO and then CEO of Clear Funding,
unlocking working capital for SMEs. She has
also accumulated an impressive number of
qualifications, including a BSc in Economics
from New York University, an MSc in Strategic
Management Accounting from UCD Michael
Smurfit Graduate Business School, and an ICA
Post Graduate Diploma in Governance, Risk
and Compliance from the Alliance Manchester
Business School.
It was primarily through growing up in a
small family business in the West of Ireland,
however, that Sinead learned to appreciate
how important SME survival is for the families
that rely on them, the communities where they
operate and, of course, the economy.
“During my career I have witnessed firsthand
how SMEs can be ignored by traditional
lenders, often to their detriment. Satago aims to
reverse that trend, giving SMEs access to fast,
reliable funds when they need it via our single
invoice finance facility.”
COLLECTIVE LOSSES
A survey by Hitachi Capital suggested that in
2019, small UK businesses lost a collective total
of £51.5bn due to late payments. That number
was unacceptable before coronavirus struck.
Now, it could be devastating.
Sinead believes that effective risk insight and
credit control will be critical in the months
ahead as companies seek to reduce the burden
of late payments.
“In my opinion, the cost of late payments
is one of the biggest threats the UK economy
faces in 2020,” she says. “As the Government’s
coronavirus support schemes wind down,
the rate of insolvency and bad debt threatens
to increase dramatically, thereby disrupting
supply chains, restricting growth and ultimately
threatening the survival of smaller enterprises.
“The main reason why small businesses fail
is because they don’t have access to cash, and
a key reason for this is that they’re not being
paid on time,” Sinead continues. “It’s essential
that we tackle this issue head on. Businesses
already spend a lot of time and money chasing
late payments. This is stressful enough in itself
without the backdrop of having a large debtor
book outstanding, plus the fact that many
small businesses have had to stop trading
Advancing the credit profession / www.cicm.com / September 2020 / PAGE 44