Up Close … with James Savy, merchant executive at Barclays Bank (Seychelles) Ltd |27 May 2014

‘To be successful in life one has to work hard’

By Marylene Julie

James Savy is a merchant executive at Barclays Bank (Seychelles) Ltd.  He is responsible for recruiting new merchants for POS (points of sale) services provided by Barclays and to manage and develop long-term relationships with them while ensuring first class customer service.

He is also responsible for the configuration, delivering and installation of POS terminals, merchant trainings, rectifying technical problems and issues and addressing them in a very efficient and timely manner.

POS terminal is an electronic device used to process card payments at retail locations and other business. A POS terminal generally does the following: reads the information off a customer’s credit or debit card;  checks whether the funds in a customer’s bank account are sufficient; transfers the funds from the customer’s account to the seller’s account (or at least, accounts for the transfer with the credit card network); records the transaction and prints a receipt.

James, who currently lives at Beolière, grew up in St Louis and moved to Mont Fleuri at around the age of 9, where he spent most of his livelihood. He is married and has a beautiful and mischievous 22-month-old daughter by the name of Zoey. He got married after having known his partner for over two and a half years. They were living together for two years before they got married. They met each other at work, had a civil wedding in December 2009 on his birth date. He had his Church wedding in 2011, on Election Day.
 
“I take pleasure in being a father, being in the presence of my daughter all the time.  Her company and her shrieks of laughter and babyish talks and her mischief make me a happy and a fulfilled person,” says James.

James is the fourth child in a family of five brothers and five sisters. One sibling unfortunately passed away at a very young age, well before he was born so theoretically, he is now the third child!

He went to school at Belonie (P1-P3), Mont Fleuri (P4-S3) and Plaisance (S4) and the following year, in 1993, he joined the National Youth Service (NYS).  He was accepted in the School of Business Studies & Accounting at the Seychelles Polytechnic in 1994 and spent three years there before graduating in 1996 with a Diploma in Business Studies & Accounting.  In 1997, he joined Barclays Bank and has been working there up till now.

His job as a merchant executive at the bank, which he took up in November 2009 and enjoys doing, is not James’ first kind of job there.
 
“Before that I have taken up roles in many different departments in the Bank, from a Customer Service Clerk, Data Capture Clerk, Cashier, and I.T Services & Support Officer, another role which I spent eight years in and really enjoyed as well.

“The things I enjoy most about my current role is the fact that I get to meet many people and customers from all walks of life, of different nationalities and I make lots of friends. There is always a different thing to do every day, different situations to deal with and most importantly, always something new coming up to deliver in terms of new value added products and services to meet the needs and expectations of our customers,” says James.

As in all jobs, James also face challenges in his. He says challenges in jobs are everyday and anywhere and they are unique in every way.  

“As a human being, as much as possible, I remain calm, be myself and stay focused just to be able to handle them. They are like the stress of a job or everyday life. I have to bear it in my mind that I have to work every day, accept people as my work involves working with them and I take it positively and as an inspiration to grow,” he says.

But one needs to have certain charisma to be able to do such a job. “To do this job, there is a need for flexibility and to be able to work to challenging deadlines when they arise, and work as a team. Other skills are also important such as communications, planning, sales, interpersonal and technical skills with Customer Service skills at the forefront. You must be a people person, being able to listen to your customers and take prompt and effective decisions.  A driving license is a requirement as one has to go out to customers and always be on the road. Knowledge of the card payment industry will be an advantage in such a job.

James is not always working all the time. He also has hobbies and past times.

“My notebook and my TV are my companions when I’m alone.  I love Facebook and to browse the net for anything that comes to my mind. I love watching the Barclays Premier League, I’m a great Liverpool fan; I make sure I never miss any of their games.  I also enjoy cooking (Sundays only).  Nobody taught me to cook. It’s something I’ve learned on my own. Everything that I cook, turns out to be a feat.  I enjoy doing Sudoku, just to ‘tease’ my brain and keep it busy and not to ‘switch off’,” says James.

James is a restless person.  He hates sitting down doing nothing.  He is someone who personally likes tidiness and precision in all he does!  At home, if he sees something that he doesn’t like and thinks it needs changes he will do it but realising that sometimes not everything is possible.  

“I believe my next job will be a ‘home designer’,” he says. James also hates violence, more than anything else in the world, just like everybody else he believes.

James has something in life he would have changed if it was possible. And that is his father’s sickness and consequent death (May he rest in peace!).

“I would have  given him back his health and his life, so that he could have been surrounded by us, his family, friends, grandchildren and great-grandchildren; to see them growing up and enjoy them as a great father as he has always been,” James says.

Going down memory lane, James recalls his childhood and where he used to live with his parents, brothers and sisters.

“But for me the most exciting time of my childhood was with my two elder brothers, whereby at one time for a few years, we slept all the three of us in one bed.  The bed was so huge, we were so ‘skeletal’ that there was enough space for us all.  Another interesting activity which I took pleasure to share was working with my dad. During school holidays, he would take me to his office whereby I became his little ‘messenger’ boy. At that time he was running his own little business as a public scribe.  He taught me typing using a ‘typewriting’ machine.  He didn’t have computer at that time.  It was very fulfilling and exciting. I got to know a lot of people and learned a lot from him.  I would run his entire errand, help with the deliveries of letters and paper works around town. One day I got beaten up for having gone too long. I was playing games at the Café Royale which is now Mason’s Travel office on Revolution Avenue.  This was one thing I enjoyed most, playing video games. At that time the games were those that you have to insert coins,” says James.

“I was full of mischief during my childhood and one of them was using my finger nails to scratch the needlework off pillows. It was so fun and it helped me to sleep.  My mum didn’t like it because she has to mend the pillows very often to fix the needlework as the contents inside (lawet) would come out.  I also got beaten up for that,” he recalls.

Like everybody, James has had both good and memorable experiences, as well as bad and painful ones.

“One bad experience that I vividly recall was when, at a very young age, I accidently got burned with hot water on my chest all the way down to my tummy and was hospitalised. I was residing at St Louis, Serret Road at that time. I remember playing and running about in the house when I took a turn into the corridor and accidentally bumped into my older brother carrying a cooking pot filled with hot water, spilling the water all over me leaving me screaming and crying. I was rushed to the hospital by my mum.

“And the most memorable one so far is my wedding day and seeing the birth of my daughter nine months later, bearing in mind a child being born is a God’s gift and a Miracle.  I had the privilege of cutting the umbilical cord, it was a joy!  It’s something that will always mark me for the rest of my life,” says James.

He also has hopes for the future and that is for him to keep on doing what he does best, especially in his job. 

He wants to see himself grow in life, be a good father and a role model for his daughter and family, and why not another child, this time a son with God’s timing.  He also has a few personal projects and hopes they become a reality this year.
Who is James really?

 “I’m an exceptionally friendly and welcoming person. I am liked by everyone, those who has been around me know that and can confirm it. I like to be around people. I like making lots of fun and crack jokes.

I don’t believe in having any enemies. I respect everybody for what they are and in return I get the same respect back, especially from my work colleagues. Being a committee member on our social club at work, I enjoy organising events and social gatherings and give my time voluntarily in doing so for my colleagues at work.

“I believe for someone to be successful in life, one has to work hard. However we must never lose focus on our personal life and family life.

As I grow older, I realise that my family is my life and my daughter is my reason for living. This makes me proud to be a father,” concludes James.