92: Building an inclusive fintech organisation: Karoline Raets, and Laurent Jacquemin

Draft Questions: Everybody wants to talk about fintech - apparently it is the new normal. I recently learnt that a staggering 95% of the founders of the FinTech 50 list are male. Not difficult to do the math here - it means women founders make an abysmal 5%. An International Monetary Fund Report from Dec 2022 - Digital Gender Gap, says that women represent less than 13 percent of leadership - both as founders and members of executive boards of fintech firms. Women’s representation in fintech is worse than traditional banking and technology companies. And then there is the issue of gender inequality in fintech’s user base……… reports suggest that the needs of women customers is hugely underserved, the lost opportunity means 100s of billions of dollars in foregone revenue each year. To discuss the above and a myriad of issues (related to gender equity) facing the fintech sector I spoke with the leadership team from Adenza, a global fintech company with presence in over 20 countries. My guests for this episode of the podcast were Karoline Raets, and Laurent Jacquemin. The timing was just right with IWD 2023 around the corner…….We spoke about 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾 👉🏾 Internal and external imperatives that are driving the industry to be more inclusive and representative 👉🏾 Adenza’s vision on gender diversity and equity. How is the vision aligned with Adenza’s purpose; launch of Adenza’s women’s resource group 👉🏾 Poor gender diversity in the fintech industry, challenges in being able to attract and retain female talent. Addressing the ‘war for talent’ 👉🏾 Systemic gender biases in the workplace; representation statistics and ambition 👉🏾 Absence of role models, and the cascading impact on pipeline for managerial and leadership positions 👉🏾 The role of internal sponsors in supporting women to achieve their potential; Laurent’s experience as an executive sponsor We also spoke about inclusive leadership, monitoring progress and both Karoline Raets and Laurent Jacquemin shared some great advise for women wishing to pursue a career in fintech. My takeaway from the conversation - there is lots to be done but the industry can change the status quo with the right intent, and taking specific action(linked to strategic long terms goals). To learn more listen here 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾