In case you missed out on the January episodes of Voice of FinTech podcast, here is the monthly summary! You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.

2021 FinTech outlook and more with Innovate Finance

Janine Hirt, Innovate Finance, an independent, non-profit membership-based organization and industry body serving the United Kingdom's financial technology community. Hosted by Rudolf Falat, founder of Voice of FinTech podcast.

We talk about:

Janine's global citizen's journey to her role as a COO at Innovate Finance. Switzerland, USA, UK all featured!
Innovate Finance - mission and its objectives
How Innovate Finance and FinTech in the UK have evolved in the last six + years
Priority programs and initiatives: for example, FinTech for schools or Women in FinTech
Key FinTech industry verticals supported (18 altogether)!
Membership base: FinTech start-ups, incumbents and investors
What can one expect from Innovate Finance as a FinTech or an incumbent?
FinTech prospects in 2021
Janine also hosts the podcast Coffee with Innovate Finance – a few favorite conversations from 2020 include Mike Laven from Currencycloud, Rafa Plantier from Tink, Freddy Kelly from Credit Kudos, Maria Scott from Taina Technology, James Lowry from State Street, Vikesh Patel from SWIFTand Adam French from Scalable Capital and Ross Dalzell, Head of Digital Investment Platforms at Barclays UK
Success stories of where Innovate Finance, as an industry body, made an impact. Stay tuned for the independent review of the UK FinTech, "Ron Kalifa Review"
Ecosystem events hosted by Innovate Finance, e.g. its flagship UK FinTech Week
Best way to reach out and find out more

Lending smarter with AI from Infosys

Dennis Gada is SVP and Head for Financial Services, North America at Infosys. Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Infosys enables clients in 46 countries to navigate their digital transformation. Hosted by Rudolf Falat, founder of Voice of FinTech podcast.

We talk about:

How did Dennis find his way to Infosys?
What is Infosys at large? What's their product range?
2020 has been a challenging year for many all around the world. Many governments provided loans to businesses to help them weather lockdowns (or guarantees). Banks sharply increased the provisions (and then sometimes released them). We can't change the macro environment, but how can Infosys help lenders improve their loan process?
Loan applications: how can we do it smoothly and remotely (look at it from both lenders' and borrowers' perspectives)?
Who gets a loan or who doesn't? Many practitioners warn that leveraging AI and algorithms may cement banks' biases (e.g., race or gender). How can you prevent that?
Loan monitoring – AI-powered alert systems – can you compare to traditional, manual ways of monitoring? How much more efficient is it?
Sometimes, there is nothing you can do, and you end up with a bad loan – how can Infosys help manage it?
What are additional applications – for example, in the export/trade finance?
Who are the key clients of Infosys' technology? E.g., Vanguard and Old National Bank.
Where can interested parties find out more about Infosys and their services for financial services?

How to master SEO if you are an SME or a start-up?

We talk to John Vuong, founder and CEO of the Local SEO Search, Inc., a Canadian SEO company, helping SMEs get discovered on the web! Hosted by Rudolf Falat, founder of Voice of FinTech podcast.

John explains his roots - born in Canada to an immigrant family from Vietnam
John had many different jobs as a student – what were his favorites and useful for today's role?
What was it like to work at Yellow Pages as internet usage has been rising?
John has been running the Local SEO business in Canada for over seven years now. How did he come up with an idea?
Let’s start with the SEO basics – what is it and why is it needed?
Target clients?
How the SEO tools or focus differ for a local SME with a physical presence and a fully digital business, say software or a FinTech?
When I started this podcast, someone who had done this before told me that the podcasts are not good for SEO. What’s John's view?
Has there been a spike in demand for SEO services driven by the pandemic?
What are the key SEO lessons learned from starting John's own business? How did John optimize your own discoverability?
What’s in store for John in 2021?
Best way to reach out

The secret of Silicon Valley

In this episode, our guest host Sara Palmbush, American Public Relations and Content Specialist living in the Netherlands, interviews Eva Schram, one of the new book's co-authors, ‘The Secret of Silicon Valley.’ Schram is a Dutch journalist based in San Francisco. Her focus is on start-up culture, tech and innovation. She writes for international media, including the Dutch magazines De Groene Amsterdammer, OneWorld and SamSam and the (Flemish) press agency IPS.

Her co-author, Wibe Wagemans, is a US-based Dutch serial entrepreneur. He started his tech career at Nokia. Since 2006 he has been running and advising startups in Silicon Valley, where he built brands such as Angry Birds and Big Fish. His teams have won the Golden Lion in Cannes and dozens of other awards. He is the founding chairman of the board of Huuuge Games Inc.

Here is what Sara asked Eva:

What brought you to the Valley?
Why did you decide to co-write this book?
What are the key reasons for tech startup success in the Valley?
Tell me how these compare with the Netherlands?
Using the learnings you gained from writing this book, how do you see the current economic/political climate affecting innovation and access to capital worldwide?
Can you speak to the importance and nature of networking in the Valley?
What can Stanford University teach the Dutch and other European countries about innovation?
Can you speak to some of the most important ‘lessons from the Valley’ for European entrepreneurs?
Any other points from the book you want to share?

Investing in crypto assets with SwissBorg

Cyrus Fazel, CEO and founder of SwissBorg is a seasoned blockchain ecosystem executive, hosted by Rudolf Falat, founder of Voice of FinTech podcast.

We talk about:

Cyrus has been an entrepreneur in the blockchain space for quite some time now. What has attracted him to it?
What’s the SwissBorg about? What’s the problem they are solving?
What’s the solution? What’s their unfair advantage?
Who are the target clients?
What is a cryptocurrency? A currency or an asset or both? Why?
Zug calls itself a crypto valley and Geneva a blockchain valley – how does SwissBorg (based in Lausanne) work with many crypto, blockchain, digital assets, or DeFi actors of the ecosystem in Switzerland or abroad?
Which of the blockchain technology applications are the most promising at the moment?
How would one sell crypto to traditional private banking clients?
More and more, we hear about TechFin replacing FinTech – why?
How has the business been developing in the last 12 months, and what’s in store in 2021?
The best way to reach out and find out more about SwissBorg

Africa Series with Adejoke Adekunle: Hello Tractor - Power (tractors) to the people (farmers)! Pay-as-you-go financing with Mastercard

In the first episode of the Voice of FinTech: Africa Series, Adejoke Adekunle, CEO of VVM Group and the founder of the African Tech Woman podcast, based in Lagos, Nigeria, spoke to Jehiel Oliver, CEO of Hello Tractor, based in Nairobi, Kenya. Jehiel also served on the US President’s Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa (Obama administration).

Here is what Adejoke asked Jehiel:

I think a great way to start our conversation would be to orient our audience about some of the problems/opportunities that inspired HelloTractor before we segue into the FinTech aspect of your business which is what this show largely focuses on. So tell us about the small steps that led to the big decision of founding HelloTractor
What things have changed over the years - what was shocking/exciting or did you underestimate starting out?
I read somewhere that Nigeria still needs about 63,000 tractors to match the mechanization requirement to effectively address the food security challenge, it's interesting to hear that it's part of what's influencing some of the decisions and plans at Hello Tractor.
Unpack the intersection between Agriculture and finance especially within the African context.
How would you describe the Tractor finance market in Africa? I understand that might differ from country to country within the continent so I'd like you to unpack that for me a bit.
Walk me through the impacts you've seen since joining the Mastercard Programme with specific examples of how this has helped your customers.
So about 2 years ago, HelloTractor built an AI-enabled digital wallet for farmers, where does that fit in the big picture of things for Hello Tractor?
What are some of the setbacks you’ve experienced in trying to spin up fintech solutions within the business? And how are you navigating them?
How has COVID-19 impacted investments into Agriculture in Africa?
I’d like to hear your thoughts about how investors and people/institutions looking to be a part of the African Agriculture ecosystem can participate - how can they participate in this economy.
Looking at 2021 ahead, what are some of the things we should expect from HelloTractor?
And finally, what’s one interesting thing about you most people don’t know about you?

If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make this podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com. You can also leave feedback using a quick form here: https://www.voiceoffintech.com/feedback. Alternatively, you can also leave a voicemail here.

Keep safe!

Sincerely,

Rudolf Falat