Qonto, the leading European business finance solution for SMEs, today announces the appointment of its first CFO: Anita Szarek.
Szarek leads Qonto’s Finance, Legal and Strategy departments to drive efficiency and further scale the business. After the appointment of its new CRO, Kenneth de Spiegeleire, in April 2023, Szarek’s arrival reflects Qonto’s strategy to hire experienced leaders to continue building a business for long-term success and to drive Qonto’s international expansion in the SME market.
“Qonto has high ambitions, a great growth potential and, most importantly, the capability to capture this opportunity,” says Anita Szarek, CFO at Qonto. “I’m looking forward to supporting scaling this high-performing organization by driving and accelerating its hyper-growth in a sustainable and efficient way.”
As Qonto’s first CFO, her mission is to identify new growth pillars and build best-in-class processes to sustain the company’s strong financial performance and rapid growth. Szarek brings more than 15 years of experience in leadership roles across companies of various sizes, growth stages and markets, such as Cargill, PayU and, more recently, Pleo.
Szarek joins Qonto at a strategic moment in its growth trajectory. After the record-breaking Series D fundraising in January 2022 and the Penta acquisition in Germany in July 2022, the company is now focusing on:
• Paving the way to profitability
• Extending and establishing its offer for SMEs
• Scoping future growth levers
• Building a sustainable, inclusive and diverse company
Alexandre Prot, CEO & co-founder of Qonto says: “We’re lucky to have such an experienced and commercially driven CFO like Anita on board. Her vision, her mastery and long-standing track record in scaling companies at the hyper-growth stage will help us reach the next level, becoming the business finance solution of choice for 1 million European SMEs and freelancers by 2025”.
About Anita Szarek
Anita Szarek is CFO at Qonto, the leading European business finance solution.
After studying at Poznan University of Economics and Business, she started her career in Audit and Finance. Over the past 15 years, she held leadership roles across companies of various sizes in Africa, Latin America, the UK and Europe, such as Cargill, PayU and, more recently, Pleo. Anita also holds an MBA from the Warsaw University of Technology and graduated from INSEAD. She has a long-standing business development, scaling companies, and finance management track record.
At Qonto, she leads the Finance, Legal, and Strategy departments to drive business growth and efficiency at scale.