WOMEN ON FIRE: Breaking into the Fintech Industry!

(Note: This content is an 8-min read)

For this special edition of International Women’s Month, we engaged with three industrious female entrepreneurs, Elain Lockman – Co-Founder and Director of Ata Plus, Karen Puah – Vice President of Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), and Joann Enriquez – CEO of IAP Integrated, on how each of them broke the glass ceiling and fervently earned themselves a rightful place in today’s buoyant FinTech sector.

1. FinTech – Inspiration Behind the Breakthrough

Elain:  Honestly for me, it was not planned. It was just an idea to explore how we could help very small entrepreneurs doing small businesses, who did not even have a bank account, and were just aiming to feed themselves from day to day. We brought the idea to Cradle (Fund Sdn Bhd), and actually secured a grant to produce a prototype. So even back then, we had already sparked conversations about financial inclusion and democratising investments.

This was all around 2010, at a time when crowdfunding was not yet common in Malaysia. So we put it on the backburner. However, we got back into the game at the end of 2014 because we got wind that the Securities Commission (SC) was planning on issuing licenses for equity crowdfunding. That’s how we first broke into FinTech.

Karen: In 2015, I was working for a compliance company that was the only boutique consulting firm in Malaysia with its HQ in Singapore. At the time, there was already dialogue about creating a sandbox for startups to try out FinTech solutions. Through my interactions with contacts in Singapore and the U.K., we realised that Fintech was really coming to Malaysia. Naturally, we geared up and got ready for it! Mind you, that was my first job in the FinTech space! Prior to that, I had 18 years of experience in FMCG, and in advertising and marketing.

So the switch was a major pivot for me. But the more I read, the more I recognised that this (FinTech) was no phase or trend, but something big that was going to stay and bring a lot of benefit to its users. Soon after, we made a lot of interactions with the Central Bank about FinTech, to which they were very open to. This was how I took my first step in FinTech.

Joann: My venturing into FinTech was organic growth, like an accidental turn of events. My first company in the USA was in the financial sector – at the time, also the largest issuer of Mastercard credit cards. I ended up in the project management team rolling out new IT initiatives, which eventually became one of the subsidiaries of now, JP Morgan Chase.

At the turn of the century, working right in the heart of the Silicon Valley, I found myself at the intersection of the financial technology boom! The tides took me there and soon, I learnt, lived, and breathed hardware and software where all the action was! It was quite a start to my career in FinTech.

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2. Challenges As A Female Entrepreneur

Elain: This is an interesting one, because – and I’ve said this many times, being female isn’t even a factor to me. I’m grateful to dare say, I’ve not had problems in the area of gender inequality in my years of doing business. I think it’s how you carry yourself and the network that you have. These build credibility. However, I do believe, that because women tend to be very responsible, and always want to make sure everything is done properly, people like to believe that they can take care of everything.

This perception can be tiring. So what’s important I feel, is that women need a support system where they can confide in and bounce ideas with, preferably from the same ecosystem, but not necessarily. It’s really good for managing stress.

Karen: The FinTech sector is largely male dominated. In fact, if you look at the speaker panels for seminars or even webinars, most of them are men, and it’s so pervasive that we even tease the fact, calling it ‘manels!’ However, back in 2019, we had a long and proud list of female speakers to propose to the organisers of Central Bank’s first Malaysian FinTech Week .

But to our own surprise, the proposed women themselves – were largely uninterested. Even though they recognised that they were given the golden opportunity to be seen and heard, they still thought that they did not possess the mental readiness or confidence to rise to the challenge. Unfortunately, it is these examples that contribute to the impression people have about women in Malaysia being uninterested in FinTech.

Joann: I was 26, a female, and Asian – leading a team of mostly middle-aged, white men! Need I say more? You can understand why I never divulged my age. I started learning to wear makeup just to make myself look older. When someone asked how old I was, I would stare at them and raise my eyebrows. This got them really confused. Only HR knew my age! Safe to say, I did the job well.

Of course there were trying times, but never once due to the fact that I was female. I never saw my gender as an impediment to my growth. Perhaps I got lucky, was just really blessed, or maybe it was the mindset and security I had for myself. Either ways, I took every opportunity as a blessing, and maximised it to the fullest!

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3. A Starting Point for Women in FinTech

Elain: Fintech is big and diverse – it has so many elements. So learn more about it, and find something you are really passionate about. And when you enter the sector, continuous learning is essential! Today, data and knowledge are amazing because all are readily available at our fingertips. Google, YouTube – almost nothing is elusive! So take time to build knowledge and experience.

Also, find a good mentor who can guide you on your way. At the end of the day, it all boils down to you as a person – are you going to wait for things to come to you? Or will you take your own initiative to go out there and get it? Even if things don’t work out as planned, don’t be despondent and mull over failures for too long. Because what will truly define your credibility, is largely your choice of core values. For me, it’s honesty, trustworthiness and high integrity. This is what matters most.

Karen: If you’re young, always be willing to start from the bottom with a bigger company, or join a startup with very low pay – both are good places to start at helping you get one foot into the industry. Most importantly is your self-branding; be active on LinkedIn, pour all your input into articles and post it, share it.

Because today, whether fortunate or unfortunate, the stories you tell could leave people believing them to be true. This is the best scenario if you are truly of substance. So make something of yourself that is genuinely of essence and contribute well to the organisation you have chosen to work for.

Joann: Just like in any endeavour, there is no secret formula, especially in the fast-changing Fintech sector and the circumstances surrounding it. One thing’s for sure; it is never too soon to start, nor too late to learn and even enhance what you already know. Willingness to learn is a powerful asset.

Like I said earlier, I ended up where I am today because I was open to following the tide, so welcome change and embrace challenges! Just remember – no one can tell you where, what or when. If the opportunity presents itself, grab it, and give it your best!

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4. Gender Equality in the Company

Elain: I don’t know if I’m already at the top, or if there’s any one specific skill per se. But skillsets are definitely a given. Like, being digitally savvy is a must-have, and facing a covid-infected world has greatly proven that to be true. Even beyond FinTech, we must now learn how to be an effective resource to the company to adapt to the ways of the world that have transformed itself onto digital platforms.

Apart from this, building and retaining network are also important – both of which are to be done in a sincere and honest manner. You must have authenticity in connecting and contributing because both are pivotal engines for self-development.

Karen: My charm! But seriously, there’s this struggling misconception that FinTech is here to disrupt the banking industry. But the truth is, no one is disrupted or disrupting anything. Banks have existed for the last 2,000 years, and no matter how we evolve, banks will still continue to exist for the next 2,000 years. People just need to recognise that FinTech is a complimentary sub-industry to banking.

In this way, partnership and collaboration is the way forward! This said, building partnerships are no overnight feat. It takes years to forge, and thankfully, I had the earnest will and patience to see them all through. And this is what helped me most in my professional life.

Joann: Being and improving myself, loving to learn, and seizing my moments! Repeat, then repeat again with passion! My enjoying the process is what I’d like to believe contributed a lot to the success that I now share with my team at IAP.

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5. Attracting Talents For Reinforcement

Elain: Not skewed towards one gender or race, we are highly conscientious about Ata Plus being balanced. At one point, we actually had too many males in the team! We quickly equalised this, focusing on diversity in the way we recognise good, exceptional talents that we believe are able to add value to the brand and take it up a notch! I’m proud to say that the team we have is really, the main asset of our company.

That’s why moving forward, we’ve designed a retention policy that provides value-added benefits that incentivise and protect the welfare of the team. We aim to continue being creative at rewarding performances, at motivating and retaining our talents.

Karen: FAOM is firm in acknowledging talents as talents. The community has also been very resourceful with the sharing of available vacancies and good talents via the FinTech community’s Discord channel. So we are well supported in our recruitment of valuable contributors that understand FAOM’s vision and mission to boost FinTech innovation in Malaysia.

Joann:  IAP is blind to gender. We see talent as they are and not as male or female. We don’t lift heavy things on a regular basis, so muscles are not a requirement for the job that we do.

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