Seema Khinda Johnson, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder of UK-based e-commerce payments and ID venture, Nuggets, has been shortlisted for ‘Payments Woman of The Year’ at the Payments Network Awards.

CEO and Founder Alastair Johnson, meanwhile, is in the running for ‘Blockchain Founder of The Year’ at the BMW i UK Tech Founder Awards.

Khinda Johnson played a central role in developing commercial partnerships that have included an agreement with QFPay, the Chinese payment provider serving 800 million WeChat users and 400 million Alipay users.

“It’s a great honour to be named as a finalist for ‘Payments Woman of The Year’,” she says. “This goes to show the extraordinary progress Nuggets has made in the industry. I’m also very proud to be shortlisted in a category that recognises the importance of innovation, as well as advocacy of diversity and inclusion, within the industry. These are issues close to my heart and to our mission.”

Johnson has been named in a category that celebrates entrepreneurs who create, disrupt and innovate within the UK’s rapidly changing tech landscape.

“I’m delighted to be shortlisted for ‘Blockchain Founder of the Year’,” he says. “Blockchain is the driving force behind so much disruptive technology across a range of verticals at the moment, so to be shortlisted for this award with only a handful of other founders just goes to show how significant the industry believe our transformation of payments can be.”

Highlights

Nuggets has been extremely busy of late. It has released its alpha platform on iOS and Android, received the backing of the London Mayor, and was the only blockchain business invited on a UK trade mission to China and India. It has also been selected by the UK Financial Conduct Authority for Project Innovate, and for the Lafayette Plug and Play accelerator.