Enfuce welcomes Paralympic Gold Medallist, Birgit Skarstein, as Chief Inspiration Officer (CInO)
HELSINKI (19 March, 2025) – Issuer processing powerhouse Enfuce has appointed Norwegian Paralympic Gold Medallist, Birgit Skarstein, as its first-ever Chief Inspiration Officer. Skarstein will bring her proven championship DNA to Enfuce’s award-winning business to motivate, inspire and challenge its teams, and the wider payments industry as a whole.
In this newly created role, Birgit will equip Enfucers with the resilience, grit and determination that she has demonstrated across sport and business during her career. In her role, Skarstein will bring her incredible story of resilience and experience defying limits to company training programmes, webinars and speaker series to create industry awareness around topics close to her and Enfuce’s heart to jointly drive meaningful change.
Skarstein has competed in rowing and cross-country skiing, winning a gold medal in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and a silver medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics. She is also a six-time World Champion and three-time European Champion. Skarstein has not just excelled at sport, she is an influential advocate for accessibility and inclusion – serving as a sought-after public speaker at notable events like TEDx Talks and the World Economic Forum (WEF). Whether it’s competition, business or advocacy – Skarstein exhibits strength, adaptability and a spirit that transcends limitations.
Commenting on her appointment, Skarstein said: “It didn’t take long for me to fall in love with Enfuce. There’s something special about the people, the culture, the energy – it’s this amazing combination of staying humble while dreaming big. When I met Enfuce’s co-founders, Denise and Monika, I just knew this was meant to be. I can’t wait to work with all their incredible teams to share what I’ve learned about owning your success and what it takes to win big, while working to inspire broader change across the fintech industry.”
Skarstein is believed to be the first Chief Inspiration Officer of this kind within the financial services industry. Her appointment reflects Enfuce’s courage to do things differently in the B2B world and fits perfectly with its core value of going ‘beyond expectation’.
Denise Johansson, co-CEO and co-founder at Enfuce, explains: “Birgit perfectly embodies ‘sisu’ – the distinctly Finnish concept of extraordinary determination and resilience, even though she hails from our neighbouring Norway. Her ability to transform challenges into opportunities mirrors our own uncompromising spirit and drive to exceed the ordinary. We can’t think of anyone better to cultivate a winning mindset among our team and across the payments industry.”
Monika Liikamaa, co-CEO and co-founder at Enfuce, added: “Peak performance is peak performance – whether it’s in business or in sport. I’ve often said that as a CEO, I feel like an athlete and, meeting Birgit, she understood this right away. Every day brings a new goal to achieve, a new challenge to overcome. But what really excites me is the broader impact we can have together. Birgit’s story shows young people everywhere that barriers are meant to be broken, and that mindset is exactly what society needs right now.”
ENDS
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For more information, please contact: enfuce@hardnumbers.co.uk
About Birgit
Birgit Skarstein is a distinguished figure in the world of Paralympic sports, holding titles as a Paralympic Champion, World Champion, European Champion, World Cup winner, and World Record holder. Her competitive prowess spans across both rowing and Nordic skiing, where she has competed in six Paralympic Games, earning numerous medals and setting benchmarks at both national and international levels. Renowned for her commitment to enhancing biomechanics, techniques, and sports equipment, Birgit has significantly contributed to the evolution and record-breaking achievements in Paralympic sports.
In addition to her athletic achievements, Birgit boasts an extensive academic and professional portfolio. She studied political science at the University of Oslo and has furthered her education with executive classes at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and Universidad Torcuato di Tella. Her professional journey is as varied as it is impressive, encompassing roles in retail, media, and board memberships across various organizations. She has also served in significant political capacities, including as a member of the Finance Committee of the Oslo City Council and five years as an appointee on The Norwegian Biotechnology Advisory Board.
Recently, Birgit authored a children’s book that immediately topped the bestseller lists, as well as garnered international acclaim. Currently, she is dedicated to leveraging artificial intelligence to transform the retail industry and is actively developing training and developmental programs for various sectors.
Birgit Skarstein’s multifaceted career and ongoing projects highlight her dynamic capability to influence and innovate across disciplines, making her an exemplary leader in both athletic and professional realms. Throughout her career, she has consistently fostered a strong team culture and collaboration, which has been instrumental in building cohesive and successful teams in every environment she has been part of.
About Enfuce
Founded in 2016, Enfuce is a female-founded and led company with a unique vision: to bring the brightest minds and the best technology together to break down the barriers to prosperity. As a leading global card issuer and payment processor that merges innovation, security, and expertise to create modular, cloud-based payment processing capabilities, Enfuce is one of Finland’s most valuable scaleups, and is the first financial service provider in the world to be PCI-DSS certified while running its service in the public cloud. By focusing on collaboration, Enfuce is able to efficiently provide customers with cutting edge features – offering in-house experts and white labelled technology to help companies create scalable payment solutions with ease. Supporting debit, credit, prepaid, gift, fleet, and fuel card programmes in any form – for consumer, commercial, and B2B applications. Enfuce’s no-nonsense approach helps customers create bespoke payment solutions that are flexible, scalable, and secure.
