How to Lend Money to Strangers

I recently hosted a group of MBA students, studying across Hult International Business School's global campuses but in London to experience what makes the fintech scene here so unique. Through the week, we heard from over a dozen guest speakers, each of whom added something special from their experience, but the undisputed highlight was a trip to Zilch'soffice to hear firsthand how Philip Belamant and the team rode the ups and downs to build the fastest-growing unicorn in Europe - $0 to $2 billion in just 14 months. It's a great story, and one that's only got more interesting since then, but Philip didn't just share the sanitised highlights; he spoke with authenticity, intelligence, and humour to be both inspiring and honest about the role that luck can play in all of this - and th ebest news is, the team at Zilch allowed me to record the session and share it all with you on here.

For those of you who appreciate mathematical symmetry, this is episode 204, and the last time Philip was on the show was for episode 102, which you can find here: https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-102

To see what Zilch is doing for consumers, head over to https://www.zilch.com/uk/

You can find Philip on LinkedIn over here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-belamant/

And the Zilch corporate page is over here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/payzilch/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Or come to FintechMeetUp Europe in Lisbon and meet me there: https://europe.fintechmeetup.com/page/get-your-ticket

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Intellect Design Arena are a global enterprise fintech leader helping financial institutions simplify complexity, modernise faster and create meaningful customer value. But, more than that, with design thinking at their core, they're a company that solves problems, from the ground up, for all flavours of financial services - and on today's episode, we're looking at their new eMACH.ai solution for Islamic Banking, purpose-built with end-to-end Islamic functionality to automate Shariah compliance and eliminate legacy barriers.

Rajesh Saxena can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajesh-saxena-033ab44/

Rami Roukoss is there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rami-roukoss-85992066/

Intellect Design Arena has its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/intellect_design_arena/

But you'll get all the details a lot quicker if you just head straight to their homepage at https://www.intellectdesign.com/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pakistan is massively underbanked, but those gaps are being closed faster than you might think, using a range of innovative solutions that range from traditional credit bureaus to satellite imagery to psychometric scorecards. In this episode, I'm with Waqas Javed, EVP for Data Analytics AI at the Bank of Punjab, talking about the vision behind, and the impact of, their drive to bring fair credit products to the people.

You can find Waqas on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/wajaved/

The Bank of Punjab is online at https://www.bop.com.pk/BoP

Begini is at https://www.begini.co/ (and also via LinkedIn through James Hume, who helped set this one up: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-hume-b8a4642/)

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

And if you book your tickets for FinTechMeetup Europe, over at https://europe.fintechmeetup.com/home, we could meet in person

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This is an interview I set up while at Money20/20 Asia. If you want to make similar connections at one of their global shows, you can get tickets at https://www.money2020.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We don't normally talk about insurance on here, but we've just published our 200th episode, so the rules no longer apply to us 🤣 But, also, we're not so different from our insuring cousins, who also need to make an upfront commitment of funds against some measure of risk.

Stan Ng is my guide, and you can find him plu shis many ventures at https://www.linkedin.com/in/stan-ng-61228040/

Airekais there, too, of course https://www.linkedin.com/company/aireka-digital-transformation/ but you'll get to the details faster if you head straight to https://www.aireka.co.uk/

The Passage is bridging insurtech experience and best practices across Asia, the UK and Europe. and you can find more about it here https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-passage-network/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

And if you book your tickets for FinTechMeetup Europe, over at https://europe.fintechmeetup.com/home, we could meet in person

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sanjib Kalita is one of the most recognisable faces in global fintech, and now one of the most recognisable voices in global fintech, too, so when I saw we were approaching 200 episodes, he was who I wanted to get on to mark the occasion.

We talk about Sanjib's early career, his move into events, including what it has been like building Fintech Meetup, the Most Valuable Event in Fintech, and then,because Sanjib doesn't just talk the talk, we cover his own startup ventures, including why he created Guppy to transform the way in which consumers and businesses control and use credit data.

You can learn more about Guppy at https://guppy.ai/

Or start a personal conversation with Sanjib on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjibkalita/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

For more about FinTechMeetup Europe, head to https://europe.fintechmeetup.com/home

Or go to https://fintechmeetup.com/home if you're one of our many American listeners https://fintechmeetup.com/home

Sanjib is also the host of FinTech Talks, the official podcast of Fintech Meetup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZr40NaBssc&t=3s

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Operating in over 40 countries across three continents, Creditinfo is a trusted partner in driving financial inclusion, enhancing credit access, and supporting economic growth in one of the most diverse mixes of markets I know of. You can learn all about Creditinfo on their homepage: https://www.creditinfo.com/ (or follow the links to any one of the regional sites).

Creditinfo are on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/creditinfo-group/

But for a more personal touch, reach out to Hrefna at https://www.linkedin.com/in/hrefna-sigfinnsdottir-78473b185/ or Elari at https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaritammenurm/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This interview was set up by Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, B2B tech PR and marketing from industry specialists who know what they’re doing and care about the results. If you want to get on shows like mine, you can contact them at https://www.rlyl.com/uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From fake accounts to payment fraud, SEON’s AI platform connects 900+ first-party data signals to enrich data and provide context for action-taking, all in one place. You can read more about how they do that on their homepage: https://seon.io/

They're also on LinkedIn, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/seon-tech/

As is this show (https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/) and I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/)

Or reach out directly to Nauman at https://www.linkedin.com/in/naumanabuzar/ and tell him you heard this interview here

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This interview was set up by FiveNot10, the B2B tech PR agency obsessed with simplicity. If you want to get on shows like mine, you can contact them at https://www.fivenot10.co.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCs) have always made sense for borrowers, but when the Great Financial Crisis showed how contagion could undermine the pricing assumptions, they lost favour with American lenders. But they're back, redesigned, and stronger than ever. In this episode, I'm speaking with Splitero'sCEO, Michael Gifford, a PropTech veteran who is helping families get the most out of their real estate by accessing their home equity.

Michael is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldgifford/

Splitero is there, too, at

But if you want the details, you may as well head straight to their homepage at https://www.splitero.com/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This episode was set up by Kirstin Robison from Pitch PR, a boutique firm specializing in national media for consumer and business-to-business companies. If you'd like to get onto shows like mine, reach out to them at https://pitchpublicrelations.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first rule of lending money to strangers is that it is always a little easier when you're lending out someone else's money! But if you're willing to put in some work, private credit offers HNW individuals a route to strong returns, and this is where today's guest enters the chat.

Credibur helps non-bank lenders and their institutional capital providers manage debt facilities and portfolios in a structured, automated, and transparent way.

Nicolas Kipp can be found on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolaskipp/

Creditbur is there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/credibur/

But you'll get all the details a lot quicker if you just head straight to their homepage at https://credibur.com/

You can connect with me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pillaris a vertical AI platform built for financial institutions, deploying product-aware AI sales agents that qualify leads, recommend the right financial products, and drive applications at scale - helping banks, lenders, and fintechs get more Indonesians into homes.

We recorded this episode just as they were about to rebrand, so while we spoke about Ringkas, you'll now find everything you need to know over at https://pillarlab.ai/

Ilya is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ilya-kravtsov-/

As is Pillar at https://www.linkedin.com/company/pillarlab/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

And if you want to get a sneak peek at some of what I'm working on, my website is currently being refreshed (even as some of the projects it mentions lag behind): https://www.brendanlegrange.com/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This is an interview I set up while at Money20/20 Asia, but they have shows around the world. If you want to make similar connections, you can get tickets at https://www.money2020.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rafsun Faiz is a former structured finance and credit investor, now turned fintech founder with SahajMobile - a smartphone financing platform that is expanding access to credit in South Asia. The world gets more digital every day, and that's as true in Dhaka as it is in DC, so SahajMobile's mission is to provide affordable access to cutting-edge smartphone technology for everyone in Bangladesh (and they're hiring, too, at https://www.sahajmobile.org/careers).

Sahaj Mobile is at home on the internet at https://www.sahajmobile.org/

Or find them on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sahajmobile/ and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/SahajMobileBD

You can reach out to Rafsun directly on LinkedIn using https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafsunfaiz/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

And if you want to get a sneak peek at some of what I'm working on, my website is currently being refreshed (even as some of the projects it mentions lag behind): https://www.brendanlegrange.com/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This is an interview I set up while at Money20/20 Asia, but they have shows around the world. If you want to make similar connections, you can get tickets at https://www.money2020.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With 10,000 transactions processed a day across 900+, often remote, villages, LTS Ventures is one of the more impactful operations I've had the pleasure of featuring on this show. But when you build the digital infrastructure needed for core banking, you're also building an ecosystem of trust and technology that other innovators can leverage in the future, so the incredible work already being done is just the start of a financial inclusion explosion in Laos (and beyond).

You can learn more about LTS Ventures and their village banking solutions at https://www.ltsventures.com/

Or reach out to Tim directly on LinkedInat https://www.linkedin.com/in/scheffmann/

I'm on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

And if you want to get a sneak peek at some of what I'm working on, my website is currently being refreshed (even as some of the projects it mentions lag behind): https://www.brendanlegrange.com/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create HAIghtened Senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This is an interview I set up while at Money20/20 Asia, but they have shows around the world. If you want to make similar connections, you can get tickets at https://www.money2020.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Crowdfunding has always been an interesting option, but now, with AI changing how quickly and cheaply ideas can become startups, we're standing on the brink of a new golden age. I'm chatting to a crowdfunding veteran, go-to-market expert, startup advisor, and all-around fintech geek, Leonard Burger.

You can find Leonard on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/leonardburger/

But he has too many advisory roles to add here, so just go to https://lift.bio/burger if you want to reach out with something specific in mind

I'm on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

And if you want to get a sneak peek at some of what I'm working on, my website is currently being refreshed (even as some of the projects it mentions lag behind): https://www.brendanlegrange.com/

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The team that pioneered AI-powered workflows for financial advisors, are now sharing their knowledge of agentic AI systems with the industry as a whole. If you've played around with Claude Code, you'll know how much you can now do with just an idea and some well-thought-out prompts... but you'll also know that there are still limits. Building a bank ready system requires more than just code, it needs experience and that's what they can bring.

Finmate AI is at home on the internet at, not surprisingly, https://finmate.ai/

They're also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/finmate-ai/

Look for Daniel there, too, with one of the cooler profile pictures on the site: https://www.linkedin.com/in/smyoo/

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Oh, and if you remember Suren Rastogi from episode 174 of this show, the Kickstarter for Burnout is ending this week. Already oversubscribed many, many times over, this is your chance ot snap it up at launch prices.

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This episode was set up by Sabrina Campbell from PodcastTalentForYou, if you'd like to get onto shows like mine, reach out to her at sabrina @ podcasttalentforyou.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Models are important and all, but you don't build great businesses by building great models, you build great businesses by building great people - because great people build the right models and leverage them strategically.

To better understand the challenges facing credit risk leaders today, Marc Gaudart and Elizabeth Reed surveyed leaders from large global banks, growing fintechs, and specialist service providers, and presented the results at The University of Edinburgh's Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference.

Key takeaway: technical excellence is essential, but today’s credit risk leaders also need:

·       🤝 Interpersonal effectiveness

·       🗣️ Business-focused communication

·       🌐 Stakeholder engagement

·       🎯 Strategic perspective with a business-wide focus

·       🌱 Ability to build resilient teams for a rapidly evolving, AI-driven world

You can find Marc on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/marc-gaudart-168339/

Trent Advisory Services is there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/trent-advisory-services/

I'm on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

And if you want to get a sneak peek at some of what I'm working on, my website is currently being refreshed (even as some of the projects it mentions lag behind): https://www.brendanlegrange.com/

Oh, and if you remember Suren Rastogi from episode 174 of this show, the Kickstarter for Burnout went live a week or so ago and is already massively oversubscribed. Head on over, take a look at the final product, and if it appeals to you, order your copy - mine's already in the production queue.

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Marcand Elizabeth first presented their findings at the University of Edinburgh's CRCC Conference, the call for papers of which ends this month, so head here quickly if you'd like to do the same: https://crc.business-school.ed.ac.uk/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode was recorded live at Money20/20 in Bangkok, so first and foremost, a huge thanks to the team there that are always exceptionally professional. If it weren't for them, there is no way you'd be getting this episode just a day after it was recorded. Still, it's no substitute for being there, especially now with shows in Europe, Asia, America, and the Middle East, so head on over to https://www.money2020.com/ to get yourself a pass for the one closest to you.

Earlier in my career, I spent 5 years flying in and out of Manila, helping to build the country's first comprehensive credit bureau... and then it seems, the very day I left, Christo Georgiev arrived on the local credit scoring scene wth a pioneering alternative data product. 

Years have passed and jobs have changed since then, but credit information in the Philippines is still dispersed across multiple ecosystems, and lenders and borrowers are both still paying the price. So, to put things right, Christo has spent the last year-and-a-half building LenderLink to aggregate and standardise credit data, and to make it available via a unified API. We'll be discussing Christo's path to this point; the Philippine lending landscape, then and now; the data gaps that still persist and how LenderLink will help to close them; and Christo's vision for the future.

You can find Christo on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christo-georgiev-40bb0156/

LenderLink is at home at https://lenderlink.ph/

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Oh, and if you remember Suren Rastogi from episode 174 of this show, the Kickstarter for Burnout went live this week. Head on over, take a look at the final product, and if it appeals to you, order your copy - mine's already in the production queue.

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

For more info on Money20/20 and their shows around the world, check out https://www.money2020.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Life got in the way of my episode release schedule for a bit there, and so a few months have passed since I sat down with Josip Rupena to discuss crypto-backed mortgages. In the world of crypto, a few months can be a lifetime, and, in this case, not the easiest lifetime, and yet, Milo has just issued its largest single transaction ever: a $12 million crypto mortgage. The demand is real, from high net worth individuals buying homes with Bitcoin to clients tapping home equity to buy more, and, if anything, the recent dips in crypto prices reflect a story of growing resilience rather than one of growing volatility, and that's a very good thing for the industry.

Jospi Rupena is the founder and CEO of Milo, a financial technology company and pioneer in crypto lending

You can learn more about Milo at https://www.milo.io/

Josip is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/josiprupena/

Milo is there at https://www.linkedin.com/company/startmilo/

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Oh, and if you remember Suren Rastogi from episode 174 of this show, the Kickstarter for Burnout is going live on the 21st of April, head on over, take a look at the final product, and if it appeals to you, order your copy - I did

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

This episode was set up by Kirstin Robison from Pitch PR, a boutique firm specializing in national media for consumer and business-to-business companies. If you'd like to get onto shows like mine, reach out to them at https://pitchpublicrelations.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Smarter advice leads to smoother lending, so today I am sitting down with James Tucker, CEO at Twenty7tec Group, talking about how his solutions, helps lenders maximise product visibility, streamline applications, and improve adviser engagement.

James is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamestuckeruk/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BBdGz3l8tSXaaIkiaeaOlwQ%3D%3D

Twenty7Tec is at https://www.twenty7tec.com/

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Oh, and if you remember Suren Rastogi from episode 174 of this show, the Kickstarter for Burnout is going live on the 21st of April, head on over, take a look at the final product, and if it appeals to you, order your copy - I did

Other friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology (and this week, flying cars)

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy New Year! I'm in Tallinn, hopefully showing my South African nieces some snow, though this winter is staying stubbornly mild. Anyway, that's not why you're here. The flipping over of the calendar is also a great time to think of the year ahead, and the trends that might shape it - and that's exactly what I did with David Silverstein, founder and CEO of Ned, whose 'Beyond the Breaking Point' report describes how lenders are looking to navigate volatility and rebuild for 2026.

Built for growth. Powered by cash flow. Ned's white-label platform transforms real-time financial data into faster credit decisions, smarter portfolio management, and more transparent borrower experiences. You can find them at home online at https://www.nedhelps.com/

David is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-silverstein-b904a27b/ (or https://www.linkedin.com/company/nedhelps/)

I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Please also follow, share, and talk about the show using https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/

Friends of the show include:

https://www.ogmara.com/ (customised risk management and analytic consulting)

https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs)

https://flatwhiteorfoff.com/ (ask for anything other than a flat white, the answer is in the name)

https://www.joinhumoni.com/ (helping international students find accommodation, work, and financial services on day one)

https://www.haboomoney.com/ (making collections personalised, flexible and intelligent)

https://beetlesense.ai (AI-powered day one pest detection for forestry)

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"We live in a world where AI is transforming everything, but the real opportunity isn’t in automation: it’s in reimagining systems around people." In today's episode, I'm speaking to Dr Diederick van Thiel, fintech entrepreneur, executive, academic, and, most recently, author of Brilliant Data, a call to leaders, innovators, and policymakers to create intelligent systems that don’t just think quickly, but also care deeply. "The future doesn’t belong to those with the most data. It belongs to those who understand it".

Oh, and because Dr van Thiel is a fintech founder, too, we also discuss a range of other topics, including how AdviceRobo's personality-based credit scoring can open up new sectors and thus approve more loans than traditional methods.

AdviceRobo is at https://advicerobo.ai/ and at https://www.linkedin.com/company/advicerobofixingglobalcredit/

Find links to the book at https://advicerobo.ai/brilliant-data/ (or via my featured book page https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads)

Connect with me on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the header section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Data analytics is no longer an isolated and arcane backroom activity to be understood by only a handful of geeks, it's at the core of every successful lending business.

For those of us that have grown up in data science, that's great news, but that rising prominence also means that a new audience must now come to terms with the implications of machine learning versus logistic regression scores, with gini coefficients and information values and bins and weights, etc. And that new audience is an important one: the Board.

Marlize Buys started her career getting hands-on with credit scorecards, then she helped to build a lending business of her own, and now she is advising the boards of major banks withthat particular transition.

Marlize has been so busy optimising lending businesses that she hasn't quite got her website up and running, but Most Probably is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/most-probably/

Or you can speak to her directly https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlizebuys/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the header section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We typically explain SME under lending as a supply gap: staid banks don't want to, or simply don't know how to, lend to new-fangled businesses. And to some extent, that is true, but there is also a demand gap. "There is a lack of knowledge, confidence, and trust when it comes to seeking growth capital through loans. While many founders hesitate to borrow, nearly 60% abandon loan applications midway, citing fear of rejection or complex terms".

This "confidence gap" - and how Juice's Smart Growth Capital - is what I'm discussing today with KatherineChan.

You can get Juice (or just read more about them) at https://www.getmejuice.com/ (head on over to their Growth Hub for some great content https://www.getmejuice.com/growth-hub/growth-hub)

Meanwhile, Katherine is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/chankatherine00/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the ehader section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For a long time now, the prevailing narrative has been branch versus phone, and phone has been winning. But there is another option, branch and phone, or rather branch in phone, and it gives us the best of both worlds plus a few fresh advantages to boot.

Connect with Albert on LinkedIn using https://www.linkedin.com/in/albert-howard-mb/

And while you're there, stay up to date with the Mini Branch story at https://www.linkedin.com/company/minibranch/

Or jump straight to their homepage at https://www.minibranch.com/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

As is the show, please follow its page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/ (once you have followed, look for the circle with the three dots in the ehader section, click that and then 'invite connections' and invite any of your colleagues who you think might like the content

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

While it is true that our mistakes are a great source of learning, it is also true that they can be a very expensive source of learning. This is particularly true when it comes to credit, where human nature and compound interest mean that many of us first learn about the true mechanics of credit when collections are on the phone and our debts have ballooned. Luckily, Latreace Sankey-Wells, with help from the team at Experian, is making sure that the students at Fisk University are better equipped than that.

In this episode, we chat about the importance and impact of consumer education, especially for young consumers.

Our discussion was inspired by Latreace's OpEd for American Banker, which you can read here: https://www.americanbanker.com/opinion/banks-need-to-be-more-proactive-in-promoting-youth-financial-literacy

Rod's broader work can be followed, most easily, over here https://www.experian.com/blogs/news/about/creditchat/

You can find Latreace on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/latreacewells/

Rod is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rodgriffin1/

And I'm there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agricultural loans offer a unique combination of high collateral and EU subsidies – in a crisis-resistant sector. Landegives us exclusive access to these loans, and this week I'm speaking to the founder, Nikita Goncars.

Meet Nikita on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-goncars-lande/

Or jump straight to Lande's homepage at https://lande.finance/

BadIdeas.fund is at, you guessed it, https://www.badideas.fund/ and Fintech Latvian is at https://fla.lv/

You can find me on LinkedIn, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ Follow the show, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People don't want mortgages; they want houses, and mortgages are just the unavoidable, often overly-complicated means to that end. Scott Baker understands this, and has embedded it into the very fabric of Toast.

Join us as we talk about Scott's journey from retail to finance, the state of the Australian mortgage landscape, and how he built Toast to help consumers dream big and plan bigger.

Toast is online at https://www.toastfinance.com.au/

It is also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/toast-finance/

Or jump straight to Scott at https://www.instagram.com/scott_thebroker_baker/ or https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottybaker/

And you can find me on LinkedIn, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ Follow the show, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We’re increasingly seeing collaboration between cybercrime, fraud, organised crime and money laundering. Organisations face mounting challenges in protecting their digital infrastructure and customers from fraudulent activities - and this is true in developed and developing markets. Developed countries tend to have more developed risk controls, but they remain attractive to fraudsters because of the scale of opportunity they represent - more work for frausters, yes, but more reward. Developing countries, on the other hand, typically have less robust digital ecosystems but they have the perfect opportunity to leapfrog into a secure and trusted new online world.

In today's episode, I find out how Rob Meakin and his Fraud and Identity team at CreditInfoare helping lenders adjust.

You can start your CreditInfo journey over at https://creditinfo.com/# and jump from there to the market that you're most interested in, or find the study we speak about right here: https://chronicle.creditinfo.com/2025/04/22/the-importance-of-trust-in-digital-interactions-the-cornerstone-of-a-digital-economy/

You can find Rob on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robmeakin/

And you can find me there, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ Folloe the show, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Corporate cards, payments, accounting, and credit for growing businesses in 25+ countries - there's a lot to cover today, and then we also chat about Brazzilion fintech and Guga's impressive career!

If you're in Mexico as this comes out, I think you can still catch the Jeeves team at Mexico Tech week (https://www.mexicotechweek.mx/). If not, you can try Jeeves over at https://www.tryjeeves.com/br (or for any of the other 6 regions by removing the extension, but you all know how the internet works)

You can find Guga (Gustavo) on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/gorenstein/ or Jeeves at https://www.linkedin.com/company/tryjeeves

I'm on LinkedIn, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you're fed up with chasing unpaid invoices and debts, iCollect's DIY debt collection software might be the solution for you. You don't have to be a lender to have creditors, but you often have to be a lender to afford a full team to chase those creditors when they start to default - that's where Amanda Morrison steps in.

icollect is at https://www.icollect.co.nz/

Guardian Credit Services are at https://www.guardiancredit.co.nz/

Or jump right to LinkedIn, where Amanda is at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-morrison-nz-b07b7226/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, https://www.haboomoney.com/, and https://beetlesense.ai

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Getting out of debt has never been harder, and, yes, a sluggish economy and the cost of recovering from a global pandemic play a big role in this, but lenders are not entirely blameless. For too long, it felt cheaper to deliver rigid and unpleasant collections processes, because 'it's not like the customer has a choice'.

But they do, they have the most important choice available: to pay or not to pay.

Collections is not just about 'how do we make the customer pay', it's about 'how do we let them pay' and so, yes, getting out of debt has never been harder, but in today's episode, Hannah Baynham explains how Haboo Money is fixing this with personalised, flexible and intelligent collections.

Haboo Money can be experienced at https://www.haboomoney.com/

Hannah can be reached on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/hannah-baynham/

As is Haboo, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/haboo-money

I'm on LinkedIn, too, of course, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suren Rastogi started his career in financial services, but, called to do something a little more exciting, he has broken away to pursue his dream of launching a board game. We'll talk about his roots, his pivot, and what it took to create Burnout: a chaotic strategic party game about mental health and the daily grind.

Head on over to https://www.burnoutgame.com/ to get on the waitlist, it's the perfect office Secret Santa gift!

Follow the team on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/end_burnout/

And follow Suren on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/surenrastogi/ - you can chat to him about game development, corporate tie-ins, and just about anything to be honest.

I'm on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

And if you're interested in other lending folk following their dreams, check out Gideon's episode at https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-55

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Banking that's good for you and the planet. You can see the GreenFi offering first-hand at https://www.greenfi.com/. GreenFi helps you save money, earn cash back, and plant trees - all while keeping your money out of fossil fuels. No mandatory fees. No greenwashing. Just a better way to bank.

You can follow Tim on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothynewell/

Follow GreenFi at the saem time over at https://www.linkedin.com/company/greenfibanking/

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Luke Willms is an award-winning writer, director, and producer... and he's interested in lending. Unabnkableis the culmination of a seven-year, seven-country journey to unravel whether Africa's rich tapestry of tradition, innovation and experimentation to find out if it holds the key to Western economic revitalisation.

Find all the details at https://unbankablemovie.com/ (or watch it on https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/unbankable/umc.cmc.2b51h3w0b2lbdrvt0af8vklx2 or https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unbankable-Luke-Willms/dp/B0F4767PNF

Follow Luke on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-willms-87250049/

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Ogma Risk & Analytics: Customized risk management and analytic consulting for you https://www.ogmara.com/?utm_source=HTLMTS&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=OGMA+intro&utm_id=2501

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

McKinsey recently surveyed senior credit risk executives from, among others, nine of the top ten US banks, and they asked them about their organisations’ adoption of GenAI, its current use cases, their future plans for it, and the challenges they expected. Twenty percent of the respondents had already implemented at least one GenAI use case in their organizations, and a further 60 percent expect to do so within a year.

With how quickly AI is embedding itself in our daily lives, we have to assume that's already increased significantly, so I sat down with Arv Govindarajan, one of the authors of that article and a partner at McKinsey & Company, to talk about how lenders are embracing generative AI in credit risk.

McKinsey & Co is online at https://www.mckinsey.com/ (also here, to jump straight to the Risk Dynamics team https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/how-we-help-clients/risk-dynamics)

Click here to read the article we're talking about https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/risk-and-resilience/our-insights/embracing-generative-ai-in-credit-risk

McKinsey are, of course, also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mckinsey/

Arv, in turn, is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/arvindgovindarajan/

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Wedgwood Steeped in a rich heritage, over 260 wonderful years later, Wedgwood continues to be renowned for quality, innovative British design and timeless elegance: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?s=2447792&v=3370&q=369217&r=2069741

GoWithGuide 100% customizable, private and high-quality tours delivered by local, quality-assured guides and backed by 24/7 efficient and caring 24/7 customer service. You can book a tour in 500 cities around the world: https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?gid=510974&mid=87121&awinaffid=2069741&linkid=3852288&clickref=

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Simplified funding for SMEs: pre-qualification in minutes, funded within a day, this is not the business lending of yesteryear.

Credibly is at home online at https://www.credibly.com/

You can find Ryan on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryan-rosett-262b642/

While Credibly is there at https://www.linkedin.com/company/credibly/

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show, at https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

You can support the show by buying one of my guests via the affiliate links on my site (it doesn't cost you anything extra): https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Wedgwood Steeped in a rich heritage, over 260 wonderful years later, Wedgwood continues to be renowned for quality, innovative British design and timeless elegance: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?s=2447792&v=3370&q=369217&r=2069741

GoWithGuide 100% customizable, private and high-quality tours delivered by local, quality-assured guides and backed by 24/7 efficient and caring 24/7 customer service. You can book a tour in 500 cities around the world: https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?gid=510974&mid=87121&awinaffid=2069741&linkid=3852288&clickref=

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've just added a new section to the website, featuring affiliate links to all the books written by the great guests we've featured on this show - https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/recommended-reads. If you scan that list before you listen to this show, you'll find among them Dr Michael Orkin with What Are the Odds? and Probability & Statistics Made Interesting. Dr. Orkin is a statistics professor and consultant, and a nationally known authority on probability and gambling games who has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, on various conference stages, and, of course, on the cover of several books.

So I was delighted to chat to him, not least of all because I've recently started teaching analytics myself and, in the process of designing my course, started to fall back in love with some of the quirks and nuances of probability.

You can find Dr Orkin on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-mike-orkin-5600584/

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

Commercial partners include (when you click one of these affiliate links, I earn a small commission but you won't pay a cent more)

ProtonVPN Browse privately with a community-owned secure VPN that safeguards your privacy. https://go.getproton.me/aff_c?offer_id=26&aff_id=12767

Wedgwood Steeped in a rich heritage, over 260 wonderful years later, Wedgwood continues to be renowned for quality, innovative British design and timeless elegance: https://www.awin1.com/cread.php?s=2447792&v=3370&q=369217&r=2069741

GoWithGuide 100% customizable, private and high-quality tours delivered by local, quality-assured guides and backed by 24/7 efficient and caring 24/7 customer service. You can book a tour in 500 cities around the world: https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?gid=510974&mid=87121&awinaffid=2069741&linkid=3852288&clickref=

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which looks at the intersection between human senses and technology

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Very early in my career, back in the days when the details from paper forms had to be typed into a computer to get the application process started, I heard about companies scanning application forms and then sending the files to India to have the data capture done there. A decade later, the guy I was chatting to in a hotel bar in Nairobi promised me he could build a collection call centre in India, staffed by Swahili-speaking staff at a fraction of the local cost. And now, as I hear from Rajul Sood, we can outsource an entire AI infrastructure - the back-end of intech is changing just as fast as the front-end!

You can find Acuity Knowledge Partners online at https://www.acuitykp.com/

Rajul is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajul-sood-vohra-2475b417/ and Acuity Knowledge Partners at https://www.linkedin.com/company/acuity-knowledge-partners

I am on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ as is the show https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers

Commercial partners include: GoWithGuide 100% customizable, private and high-quality tours delivered by local, quality-assured guides and backed by 24/7 efficient and caring 24/7 customer service. You can book a tour in 500 cities worldwide by clicking this affiliate link (I'll earn a small commission, but you won't pay a cent more): https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?gid=510974&mid=87121&awinaffid=2069741&linkid=3852288&clickref=

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can't lend money if you don't have capital. And you can't grow your capital if you don't deploy it. There have long been matchmakers to link those two sides together, but traditionally they've only come into play when the numbers involved started b's or even t's. Exaloancloses the global funding gap for individuals, entrepreneurs, and SMEs by connecting institutional capital with the digital lending ecosystem, digitizing the refinancing processes for lenders. 

So today we're taking the loan for granted and looking, instead, at what we do to generate fresh capital and strong returns for investors.

Exaloan can be found online at https://www.exaloan.com/

Luca is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/luca-andre-frignani/

Exaloan's page is at https://www.linkedin.com/company/exaloan/

You can find me on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ - please do connect

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias where people with high ability on a given task tend to underestimate their competence, while those with low ability overestimate theirs. It's typically examples of the second half of that antithesis that make the headlines, but the first half is problematic, too, because sometimes the experts best placed to start a new business are the ones most held back by doubt. And that's why I love the controlled environment that In Vitro Capital has created to, essentially, employ potential founders to build businesses without all the unknowns of traditional entrepreneurship. And it works

Amir Barsoum is the founder, managing partner, and CEO of InVitro Capital, and he takes us through the vision behind it all. You can find Amir on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirmbarsoum/

I'm there, too, and open to all new connection requests (just mention the show) https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

You can find In Vitro online at https://invitrocapital.com/about-us/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/invitrocapital

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is an unscientific guess, but I have to believe that the vast majority of us would prefer to get our power needs met by renewable sources in our own backyards - cleaner, yes, but also free from the price shocks that have become so common recently.

That said, heat pumps and solar panels are expensive and complicated - a daunting combination that holds many people back, myself included. That's where Clooversteps in. Born in Sweden but now finding a lot of traction in Germany, Cloover partner with renewable energy professionals to make sustainable home upgrades simple and affordable with flexible payment options.

Now, as you'll hear, this episode was originally recorded a year ago before an unplanned long break kept it dusty and on the shelves. And as you'll also hear, it wasn't alone in that fate. But Peder and I recorded a follow-up to bring the story up-to-date, and it's one that's rising to the fore in more and more markets.

You can find Peder on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/pederbroms/

You can find Cloover at https://cloover.co/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/cloover

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Recorded live in Austin, Texas at the offices of Billd, this episode of HTLMTS explores the ways in which Christopher Doyle and his team are removing financing friction from the building process. Few of us look forward to a building project, but all of us make use of the end results, so let's take a look behind the scenes at how the money does (and doesn't flow) between lenders, general contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers.

To find out more about how Billd's financial solutions built for subcontractors, head on over to https://billd.com/

Or follow them on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/billdco

Chris is on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherldoyle/, as am I, https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"I am done with apologies. If contrariness is my inheritance and destiny, so be it. If it is my mission to go in at exits and come out at entrances, so be it." - Wendell Berry

The world that Robbie Vitrano and the team at Mad Agriculture is striving to create is so vastly different than the world that is, that nearly everything that they do bears certain madness. From heart to head, poetry to science, financing to markets, and soil to shelf, MadAg help farmers thrive in regenerative organic agriculture. And sure, it's a little different from our normal fare on this show, but there is lending involved and, more importantly, if we are what we eat, we'd all do well to understand how farmers are making our food as good as it can be.

You can learn more about Mad Ag at https://madagriculture.org/

Or find Robbie on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbievitrano/

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Friends of the show include: https://www.ontap.co.za/pages/hoedspruit-store-details (for all your Hoedspruit-based bathroom needs), https://www.joinhumoni.com, and https://chaos-out-of-order.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twenty years ago, the economy of Zimbabwe hit global headlines for its hyper-inflation: Wikipedia tells me prices rose 89.7 sextillion percent in 2008. And while the decimal point here may create the illusion of something measurable, in all real terms, it is an incomprehensible number - something which The Zimbabwean Newspaper cleverly circumvented when it ran a protest campaign using a trillion dollars of actual bank notes as a backdrop to billboards and posters. This was brought under control for a decade until, like something out of a Joseph fever dream, those ten stable years were followed by a fresh set of five hyper-inflationary ones before a gold-backed new currency was launched last year. You may think it is hard to predict default rates in your market, but imagine how difficult it is when even the most foundational aspects of the economy are prone to upheaval!

It's a frightening thought, and one that might have me running for the hills, but the volatility that scares me has fortified George Nachamba, who saw opportunity and market need. And he responded, building Credisafe to give lenders and vendors the ability to credit score the informal sector. It's a fascinating example of allowing necessity to force innovation, and I think they're building features that credit bureaus in the biggest markets should be paying attention to.

You can find CrediSafe at www.credi-safe.com

George is also the author of 3 books, two related to business management and the other to personal development: you can get them by emailing him using gnachamba@credi-safe.com

You can connect with George on LinkedIn, like I did: https://www.linkedin.com/in/george-nachamba-423b8223/

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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A cross-over episode to celebrate our crossing over from 2024 to 2025 😜 a time we traditionally think about goals for the future. But while goal setting is common, goal achieving tends to be somewhat rarer - I'll personally be entering my 20th successive 'Year of the Body' with nothing but an even softer belly to show for the previous 19 years of good intentions.

In this episode, we sat down with John Assaraf to find out how we can not just set bold goals but go on to achieve them. John is an entrepreneur, author, motivator, and one of the leading high-performance success coaches in the world, so this was a perfectly timed treat!

If you head on over to MyNeuroGym via this link, you will give the show a little financial boost in the process at no cost to yourself: https://links.myneurogym.com/hAIghtened

Or if you want the full at-the-feet-of-the-master experience, you can hire John as your own coach over at https://www.johnassaraf.com/ (it's also where you'll find links to all of his books, though they're also in all fine bookstores, both online and on the High Street)

Ebook: https://johnassaraf.isrefer.com/go/POVEBOOK/JAAFF13397/

IG: https://www.instagram.com/johnassaraf/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/johnassarafpage

YT: https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnAssaraf

X: https://x.com/johnassaraf

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

#GoalSetting #NewYearsResolutions #Achieveyourresolutions #GoalAchievement #MindsetMatters #PersonalDevelopment #SuccessMindset #AchieveYourGoals #GoalGetter #SelfImprovement #GrowthMindset #ProductivityTips #BrainTraining #Neuroplasticity #MindsetMastery #Innercise #neurogym #TrainYourBrain #MindsetCoach #Neuroscience #BrainHealth #FocusAndDiscipline #MentalStrength #PodcastMotivation #SelfHelpPodcast #GoalSettingPodcast #MindsetPodcast #SuccessPodcast #InnercisePodcast #TheSecret #TheAnswer #HavingItAll #InspirationDaily #MotivationMonday #SuccessTips #MindsetIsEverything #DreamBig #FocusOnSuccess #StayMotivated #PositiveMindset #LifeGoals #GoalCrusher

Impact-Site-Verification: 8fe4cbc1-71ec-454d-9065-dc4fc40b73c3

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I've been busy with the kids' end-of-year activities, with a bit of camping, with a bit of drinking in Belfast, with a bit of planning for a trip to Paris for the Olympics, with a bit of everything except podcast editing 😉 So, to fill the gap until next week, here's a taste of my other show:hAIghtened senses.

From drones scanning the forests of Sweden looking for early signs of pest infestations to artificial noses detecting spoiled milk or the presence of mildew to innovators building businesses on top of this fast-changing tech, our podcast uncovers the innovative ways AI-empowered machines are enhancing our understanding of the world around us.

You can email us at haightenedsenses@gmail.com or message us on LinkedIn

Images of spruce bark beetle infestations can be sent to barkbeetletracker@gmail.com

Christo and Brendan are both active on LinkedIn and open to all genuine new connections, you can find them at https://www.linkedin.com/in/christo-van-zyl-innovator/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/ respectively

You can find more of Christo at chaos-out-of-order.com

Brendan's other podcast is www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show

Show art is created with Dall-E, show music is created with suno.ai

Website: https://www.haightenedsenses.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/haightened-senses

YouTube: www.youtube.com/@hAIghtenedsenses

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557906028730

Instagram: @haightened.senses

TikTok:haightened.senses

#Innovation, #Entrepreneurship, #AIRevolution, #BusinessGrowth, #FutureTech, #DisruptiveInnovation, #InnovativeIdeas, #AIInBusiness #machinelearning #tech #hitech

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Adrian Pllay has an unusually deep understanding of some of the world's more interesting markets. We've heard a lot about the US and the UK on this show but today, Adrian takes us off the beaten path: having been based at times in Africa and at times in the Middle East, he now oversees both of those regions as well as a little in-between! We talk about what he's learnt along the way, we get teased with the possibility of a future book, and we hear how Provenir is helping banks, fintechs, and other financial services providers make smarter decisions faster with their AI-Powered Risk Decisioning Platform.

Provenir is online at https://www.provenir.com/ (or jump straight to their excellent resources page for their latest thought leadership)

Adrian is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianpillay/ (and last I saw, he was hiring)

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And since you like podcasts, I'm also co-create hAIghtened senses with Christo van Zyl, in which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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"If my mom asks me what I do, I say I work for a company that helps financial institutions worldwide to make lending simple". Paul Weiss is talking about Simbuka in this quote, a young and passionate software development company, focusing on financial institutions that operate in developing and emerging markets. And since the name Simbuka originates from the Kinyarwanda language, what better location to find Paul than in Kigali.

Simbuka is online at https://www.simbuka.com/ or find and follow them on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/simbuka/)

Paul is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-weiss123/

You can seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last five years, one hundred million Americans have started to monitor their credit reports with TransUnion for the first time. One hundred million. And the same thing is happening all around the world. But just because everyone is doing it, doesn't mean they're doing it for the same reason: some consumers are in a bind and looking for a way back to good credit; some are planning a major loan and want to optimise their options; some want to make sure everything is untouched and as it should be.

So, in their latest global study of the phenomenon, TransUnion set out to see if each of these goals is being helped by the credit self-monitoring, and I'm chatting to Charlie Wise to find out what they learned.

Charlie is Senior Vice President, Research and Consulting at TransUnion and is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlie-wise-959570/

TransUnion is at https://www.transunion.com/

This particular research is also being discussed herefor the US and here for the UK: https://www.transunion.co.uk/lp/consumer-monitoring-motivations

Please seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"So as I as I always say, Brendan, India is now the coolest party in town and if you are late, you might not get in!"

The story of Indian fintech is one of almost unimaginable speed and scale, and watching it from the front lines was Kabeer Chaudhary. So I sat down with him to talk about digitising loans and learning from banks and fintechs to deliver a project that works with loss rates that allow you to sleep peacefully at night.

You can find ClickMyLoan at https://clickmyloan.com/ or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/clickmyloan/

You can find Kabeer at https://www.linkedin.com/in/kabeer-chaudhary-18bb7984/

Please seek me out on LinkedIn, too, where I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As an industry, we've been using scorecards as objective and comparable measures of credit risk for generations. We've used this experience to get more and more accurate in those models, but there are other uses, too, like maybe an objective and comparable measure of environmental risk...

I'm sitting down with Daniel Mclean, Client Partner at 4most, a specialist credit analytics firm that became a specialist analytics firm and went on to win awards for its new "green" credit score - an ESG score that can be adapted and utilised across all regions and tailored to a lender's available data, individual portfolios and unique sustainability goals.

You can find Daniel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-mclean-351278169/ where you can also follow the 4most page https://www.linkedin.com/company/4most/

But for that, you might want to jump straight to their homepage: https://4-most.co.uk/

There's a page dedicated to all their wonderful insights - https://4-most.co.uk/insights/ - but go even if you're just interested int he rebrand!

Please seek me out on LinkedIn, I'm open to all genuine new connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting back-to-back live recordings of this podcast in the MoneyPot studio, a glass-walled thing of beauty on the Money20/20 show floor. The second of those was a data-backed dive into the world of frictionless and fair embedded business finance with Rob Straathod, CEO of Liberis- what I think could be one of the best use cases for Open Banking out there.

You can find Liberis at https://www.liberis.com/

You can find Rob on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-straathof-3b56152/ (Liberis are there, too, of course)

Don't leave LinkedIn before reaching out to me - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and following the show's page.

Money20/20 is theplace(s) to be, find out how you can attend the next event here: https://www.money2020.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last week I had the pleasure of hosting back-to-back live recordings of this podcast in the MoneyPot studio, a glass-walled thing of beauty on the Money20/20 show floor. The first of those was an inspiring discussion about real-time data in collections with James Hill, CEO of Flexys Debt Management & Collections Software - what I think could be one of the best use cases for Open Banking out there.

Flexys is at home online at https://www.flexys.com/

You can reach out to James on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-hill-07850167/ (where Flexys are, too)

James' own podcast - Flexys meets... - is available where you're listening to this, or directly at: https://www.flexys.com/resources/podcasts/

But don't leave LinkedIn before reaching out to me - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and following the show's page.

Money20/20 is theplace(s) to be, find out how you can attend the next event here: https://www.money2020.com/

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Five years ago, cash was involved in every fourth POS transaction in China. Today, it is involved in 1 in 14, and in two years, it is expected to be involved in just 1 in 33. The size and speed of that evaporation are undeniably impressive, but the most important lessons will be found by studying neither the size nor the speed at which those cash transactions evaporated but from studying where those transactions went.

In the West, cash transactions became debit card transactions and the big banks saw them all. In China, cash transactions went into the new mobile wallet ecosystems, and as the banks became blind, the Super Apps were born. Fed with transaction data at a scale never seen before, a new type of lender emerged, and in their growth, a thousand lessons might be found.

So in today's episode, I'm speaking to Richard Turrin, a Shanghai-based fintech, AI, and innovation consultant and best-selling author. We chat about his time with IBM Watson, his move to China, and how what they're doing there might inspire new ideas in the West.

Richard is the author of Cashless: China's Digital Currency Revolution andInnovation Lab Excellence both of which are available on, among other places, Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B07PQP33TC

But as you will hear, he is also writing for over 2,000 followers on Substack:https://substack.com/@richturrin

You can find Richard on LinkedIn, and possibly become his 50,000th follower! https://www.linkedin.com/in/turrin/

I am on LinkedIn, too, and open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grab is by far the largest ride-hailing platform in Southeast Asia, the largest food delivery platform, one of the largest digital payment methods, and now, thanks in part to the work of my guest, Ritwik Ghosh, the largest embedded FinTech lending business. That's an impressive set of achievements, but Ritwick and his co-founder, Sauvik Datta, still saw a gap: while Grab is an important platform for many merchants, it is never their only platform, and so any platform-specific effort to deliver revenue-based financing is doing so with at least one eye off the ball.

So they created Seedflex, a frictionless - and platform agnostic - way for online merchants to stay in control of their business, capital and growth.

Ritwik is on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ghosh-ritwik/

Seedflex are there, too, at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/seedflex-tech/

But you may want to jump straight to their homepage at: https://www.seedflex.com/

I am on LinkedIn, too, and open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last time the research was done in England, 1.1 million people were borrowing from illegal lenders... and that was two years ago, before the cost of living crisis which has surely pushed that number higher, so we're looking at somewhere between 1 in 30 and 1 in 40 adults. Those borrowers are facing a combination of threats and extortionate rates, and you're losing directly, too, because "if one of your customers is paying the loan shark, they won't pay your loan because the loan shall be the priority". 

Stop Loan Sharks is at home online at https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/

But it also just happens to be one of their bi-annual social media weeks, so why don't you also engage with their posts on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/stoploansharksengland/

I am on LinkedIn, too, and open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Roughly 15% of hopeful parents worldwide would be eligible for IVF - from a medical eligibility perspective - but today, only about 2% are able to access that care."

It's all well and good financing cars or boats or sneakers, but sometimes we get a chance to finance something a little more important, like a house or, in this case, a family to fill it. Gaiaare a wonderful example of that, embedding finance and insurance into a healthcare workflow to build the better way to pay for IVF.

Gaia are at https://gaiafamily.com/

On LinkedIn they're over here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gaiafamily/ and they're on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram, too

John is on LinkedIn, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-p-aronica/

As am I, and I am always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please also follow the show's page while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I was going to use a quote from Drachenhere, because I remembered being quite proud of how I described Tallinn in there, but it turns out I remembered... generously So let's just say that Estonia is a fantastic place to visit this summer. But don't stop there, explore the other Baltic States while you're at it, maybe make a road trip of it and check out Poland, Czechia, and Germany, too. The borderless EU is your playground.

And, before the disaster that is Brexit, I enjoyed that freedom of movement as a resident, spending two wonderful years living and working in Copenhagen. Many still do, and that's where Mifundocome into the picture. We've spoken about cross-border credit bureau solutions before, and how they help immigrants, Kaido Saarwill talk about that today, too, but within Europe immigration is often more of a tidal flow than a river's unidirectional run to the sea so we'll also discuss how that's baked into their solution.

Kaidoo and the team will once again be at Money20/20 in Amsterdam next month as part of the Estonian Fintech booth - https://europe.money2020.com/ I should be there, too, provided I get my logistics sorted in time, so if you're going to be in town, let's make a plan to meet up at the event or at one of the many after parties 😉.

You can learn more about Mifundo and book a demo at https://banks.mifundo.com/

Or you'll find them and Kaido both on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mifundo-com/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaido-saar/

For natural biodegradable straws from reed, go to https://sutustraws.com/

I'm on LinkedIn, too, and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page, too, while you're there.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It started by just going out and networking, listening to people, asking them what worked, what didn't work, you know, ringing up estate agents saying, look, I'd love to do your mortgages and walking up and down the high street with my briefcase."

As much as I love featuring VC-funded, AI-powered, alternative data-consuming startups on this show, it is well worth remembering that there's still a very big place for businesses built on human interactions - provided those interactions lead to better products, of course. In today's episode, I'm speaking to Chris Schutrups, founder of The Mortgage Hut and some of the UK's leading mortgage brands.

We cover that story of shaking hands and building businesses, of understanding people's needs and building products for them, but we also look at the role of professional advice in a world flooded with opinions, the current mortgage landscape and its opportunities there for brokers and lenders to work together for the benefit of borrowers, and how a changing drinking culture is changing pubs.

The Mortgage Hut is at home online at https://www.themortgagehut.co.uk/ They're also on LinkedIn over at https://www.linkedin.com/company/themortgagehut/ (Police Mortgages are there, too)

And speaking of LinkedIn, Chris is kind of a big deal on the platform, so you can join the 20,000+ of us following his insights over at https://www.linkedin.com/in/schutrups/

Or if it was the pubs that caught your interest, check out the great options at https://hendersonpub.co/. With summer finally showing signs of its approach, I might well take on the 2-hour coastal drive to get me to Romsey and The Hunters Inn.

I'm on LinkedIn, too, and eager to reach Chris's heights so I'm always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Buy now and pay in up to 24 monthly instalments using your existing credit card.​ Zero interest. Zero fees. Zero new credit.” With copy that good, you might not actually need to listen to this week’s episode 😉 But please do, it’s a really good one as we hear first hand from one of South Africa’s most exciting new fintech founders.

Float is all about taking a payment tool that you already know and love, stripping away the cost, to providing cash flow management that enables spend without an unnecessary expansion of unsecured credit.

Float is at home at https://www.float.co.za/

And on social media at https://www.instagram.com/float.co.za/ and at https://www.linkedin.com/company/floatcoza/

Or reach out to Alex directly at https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-forsyth-thompson-cfa-cfp%C2%AE-6b42a75a/

If you’re interested in Guy Kawasaki’s new book, you can buy it here: https://guykawasaki.com/books/think-remarkable/ (or at any online bookstore)

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

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Always curious, always outspoken, Carolyn Rohm has a deep passion for helping analysts and analytical teams to engage with the wider business and stakeholders to deliver solutions that provide real value and bottom-line benefits. In today’s episode, we talk about her career in credit risk, about the different nuances of credit risk analytics in high-risk and low-risk environments, about credit scores and credit strategies, about analytics for modern collections, and about how to build teams with hard and soft skills.

Carolyn is at home online at https://www.carolynrohm.com/ (or just straight in and book a complimentary 30 minute chat at https://calendly.com/carolynrohm/30min?month=2024-04)

Luckily, much of Carolyn’s insight and wisdom is captured in her book - It’s a Risky Business: A field Guide to Retail Consumer Credit Analytics -which you can get from her sitebut also on Amazon.com and .co.uk and, I imagine, all the others.

But also feel free to find her on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolynrohm/

Scores4All is on LinkedIn, too, but their homepage is over here: https://www.scores4all.io/

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

And finally, I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The global covid pandemic shut down a lot of things, but new vehicle supply chains were among the hardest hit. A knock-on effect of that was that Taran, an advanced analytics and AI consultancy saw their hot lead for a new contract evaporate. But sometimes setbacks are really opportunities in disguise, and as Taran's leadership team adjusted to put all their eggs in their remaining project, they realised that they were more than a consultancy, they had a product on their hands - and, more or less, that's how Taran Decision Manager was born.

In today's episode, I'm speaking to Martin Chudoba, co-founder and CEO about that journey, and about how Taran DM can help lenders to automate and improve their complex, data-driven decisions.

As you'll hear, you can find Taran on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/taran-ai/

Which is also where you'll be able to reach out to Martin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-chudoba-76703b15/) or Steve Henderson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/steveghenderson/) who is the MD of their North American operations

Or you can go straight to the source, and find what you need over at https://tarandm.com/

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

But I'm also co-creating a new podcast called hAIghtened senses which will look at the intersection between human senses and technology, especially AI-powered technology. You can already start to follow it wherever you're listening to this one - there's only a trailer there at the moment, but we've recorded some of the early episodes and it's going to be a fun ride!

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caleb Maru called M-Pesathe "company that changed Kenya forever", and the crazy thing is, its impact was even bigger than that - because the dominoes that M-Pesafirst tipped over in Kenya, seventeen years ago, are still having an impact all over East Africa. In today's episode, I'm speaking to Nassor Abubakar, an M-Pesa veteran and digital lending expert who is spreading mobile-first digital loans across Tanzania with NMB Bank.

You should follow Nassor on LinkedIn for https://www.linkedin.com/in/nassabuba/

NMB is at https://www.nmbbank.co.tz/ and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/nmb-plc/ and on Twitter,Facebook, Instagram

The Finscope Report mentioned can be accessed here: https://www.afi-global.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Finscope-Tanzania-2023-Report-Insights-that-Drive-Innovation.pdf

Caleb Maru's TechSafari is at https://www.techsafari.io/ or jump straight to the M-Pesa story at https://techsafari.beehiiv.com/p/company-changed-kenya-forever

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the world of data science, there are people like me, who have signed up for an online Python course but just not got around to starting it yet, and then there are people like Ayhan Diᶊ, who, given a spare month, create a Python package to succeed the highly successful CreditR by simplifying tasks such as variable analysis, model development, and calibration and validation with unparalleled efficiency 😂

Ayhan Diş is a Quant Professional renowned for shaping sophisticated data-driven solutions across diverse sectors, and we discuss what AI and ML can bring to the world of credit risk modelling, a future with Generative AI tools further improving our toolbox, and what regulators have to consider in their rulings.

You can explore CreditPy on PyPI (https://pypi.org/project/creditpy/) and GitHub (https://github.com/ayhandis/creditpy)

You can reach out to Ayhan directly on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayhandis/

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Oh, and In this episode, I got to have a bit of fun incorporating Daniele's drumming into the introduction - isolating them from the full track using https://splitter.ai/

Keep well, Brendan

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"Data is a bit like the blood of an organisation. It goes everywhere. However, because it goes everywhere, you cannot just silo it somewhere. Of course, you need to have some standards around data, but every part of the of a business has to be responsible for the data". 

Daniele Forni cuts through systems and technologies to solve the complex data issues that otherwise prevent financial institutions and startups from unlocking their data potential. And luckily, he loves sharing those insights with us: on LinkedIn, at conferences, in articles, in free-to-download reports such as his Guide to Data for AI, and in books for professionalsand their kids alike!

You can find all of Daniele's work at https://www.danieleforni.com/

Or follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danieleforni/And he's just moved to Hong Kong, so if you're there, pop into HSBC and say hello 😁

The Pirate and Ris on your local Amazon or directly atwww.littledatascientist.co.uk 

Is It Pronounced Data or Data? is at https://lnkd.in/e3HZRN-d (USA), https://lnkd.in/excjrGCW (UK), https://lnkd.in/eAy2nsPT (IT), and https://lnkd.in/eyYdYw3U (ITA)

Daniele's music (Doctor Shall Burn) is at https://open.spotify.com/artist/4KR0BUcZj5eOV9mxLgrniw?si=SPhptSMoTU-GchQruC-PmA

I'm on LinkedIn and always open to new genuine connections - https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange - please do reach out, and follow the show's page, too

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Oh, and In this episode, I got to have a bit of fun incorporating Daniele's drumming into the introduction - isolating them from the full track using https://splitter.ai/

Keep well, Brendan

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Designers speak about 'the job to be done' - you don’t need a taxi or an Uber or tuk-tuk, you need to get home to bed; you don’t need a mortgage, you need to finance your house purchase; you don’t need to spend every second weekend researching market rates, you just need to be on the best deal you qualify for. In this episode, I speak to Vincent Turner about Australian mortgages, about startups and why ‘early-stage businesses’ is perhaps a better term, about design thinking and deep working, and about a rather special belt.

Uno is at home online at https://unohomeloans.com.au/  Or on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/uno-home-loans/

You should check out Yoku belts at https://yokumensbelt.com/ (you know you need a smart new belt)

And you should also follow Vincent at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vhturner/

LinkedIn is also where you can find and connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange (please do reach out, follow the show's page, and share the content with your networks)

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rwanda is rising as a regional financial centre, catching the East African fintech wave to drive economic and social transformation and to broaden financial inclusion. In today's episode, I'm speaking to TransUnion's CEO for Rwanda and Head of Africa Growth Regions, Sam Tayengwa to hear about the energy and progress that's bubbling to the surface there. We talk about mobile loans, of course, but also the emergence of old classics like mortgages and vehicle loans.

TransUnion is, as Sam said, at https://www.transunion.com/ but also at https://www.transunion.co.za/ and https://www.transunionafrica.com/rwanda (I think he got that a little wrong in the episode)

You can jump straight to Samat https://www.linkedin.com/in/samtayengwa/, he's well worth the follow, and also check our TransUnion Africa's regional president, Lee Naik at https://www.linkedin.com/in/naikl/ and subscribe to his Elewa newsletter at https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/elewa-africa-thinking-6706525337850781696/

LinkedIn is where you can find and connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange (please do reach out, follow the show's page, and share the content with your networks)

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The story of East African fintech is built around the mobile phone. Not the smartphone, mind you, but the humble feature phone. In markets where all but the most significant of locations lacked an established infrastructure of landlines and local bank branches, these phones leapfrogged both: powered by pre-paid sim cards that often served as a secondary currency and cleverly leveraged USSD technologies. But it has been seventeen years since M-PESA arrived on the scenes and yet traditional credit tools have often failed to cross the floor - in Uganda, the credit bureaus are filled with the data of there are just 2.4 million traditionally banked consumers, while a further 14 million sit waiting, with their data-rich mobile banking histories all but ignored.

But no more. In today's epsidoe I'm speaking to Charles Wandia of gnuGRID who, with Airtel, have built a national-level mobile credit score.

gnuGRID is the first and only indigenous credit reference bureau in Uganda, enabling financial inclusion through credit information sharing - and you can find them online at https://gnugridcrb.com/

You can also watch the official launch of that score at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VbEI_0l57A&t=19s

gnuGRID is also on LinkedIn, of course, as is Charles Wandia: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-wandia-983b4a65/

As you'll hear on the show, Charles also offers tailor-made training on credit scorecard development via Credit Tick Consulting at https://www.linkedin.com/company/credit-risk-tick-consulting/

Speaking of LinkedIn, that's where you can also find and connect with me: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange (please do reach out, follow the show's page, and share the content with your networks)

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"At its core, Credit Canary is a data platform that consolidates and reconciles multiple different data sources in a standardised way to produce a really rich set of flags and real contextual insights. And the essence of that is flexibility within lending. With the data that we have, there is a great opportunity not just to help make better decisions, but to help make better lending products." - James Fell, Founder and CEO

All too often, a borrower and their unique circumstances are thought about at the point of application and then entirely forgotten until a payment or two is missed. That might have been OK in a world of slow and scarce data, because what else could you do, but that excuse doesn't hold up any more - and with credit data, open banking data, and more, Credit Canary are helping us to put that right.

You can find Credit Canary and view their offerings at https://www.creditcanary.co.uk/

James gives his email in the episode, or you can find him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesafell/ In fact, the whole team is available there (https://www.creditcanary.co.uk/about)

And while you're there, find and connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"It's important that in every interest rate environment, in every market environment, an average family can afford an average home" - Arjan Verbeek, co-founder at Perenna Bank.

The UK mortgage market has long been underpinned by the belief that, as long as the music kept playing, you would be able to refinance from one lender's short-term teaser rate to the next, without ever having to pay the full price... but then the music stopped and UK borrowers found themselves saddled with fast-rising standard variable rates. Household budgets were torn to shreds, and all while inflation ran rampant on the High Street, too.

Few escaped. And perhaps fewer still realised that variable rates were the reason they'd been unable to qualify for a mortgage in the first place. Variable rates can, of course, vary, and so, not wanting to carry the risk for this, lenders build a buffer to protect themselves through both a regulatory stress-test applied to affordability calculation and a significant down payment requirement. In a world where we all have to stretch ourselves incredibly thin to afford a house, that can be the difference between renting again and owning.

If only there was another way... like, say, the way they've been doing it in Denmark for the last two hundred years! In today's episode, I'm speaking to Arjan Verbeek, co-founder and CEO at Perenna Bank and vocal proponent of fixed-price long-term mortgages in the UK.

Perenna Bank is over at: https://perenna.com/

They're also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/perenna/

As is Arjan himself, who is well worth the follow: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%87%B3%F0%9F%87%B1-arjan-verbeek-5884681/

And while you're there, find and connect with me at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Big data analytics used to require multiple sources of data, fed into your systems via a complex array of pipes of varying structural integrity: leaks, hassles, and something to be left to only the most advanced of data organisations. In today's episode, we find out how all that has changed:

"As the name suggests, we are one big data pipe with a lot of information flowing through it, and we fuse that with AI to produce some high-value analytical products coming out the other end. And this 360 degree view of a customer, with more than 500 unique attributes, is a pretty powerful position to be in. And from there, we can do some wonderful things in real-time."

1datapipe is at home at https://www.1datapipe.com/ and that's where you can arrange a demo

Or you can find both 1datapipe (https://www.linkedin.com/company/1datapipe/) and the wider Provenir Group (https://www.linkedin.com/company/provenir-global/) on LinkedIn

And while you're there, come and find and connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Japan is an uncommon blend of known and unknown: I drive a Nissan, you might drive a Toyota, my TV is a Sony, and since my time in Hong Kong, my go-to beer on hot days is an ice-cold pint of Asahi... but I know little about their FinTech scene. So, to set that right, I sat down with Morris Iwai, a seasoned business executive with 20+ years of experience in the credit card, consumer lending, and payments industries of the US, Taiwan, Singapore, and, of course, Japan.

Morris shares that experience - and some hard numbers - as we cover:

An overview of the credit card and payments markets in Japan Tokyo, the new Fintech Hub in AsiaDigital Payment trends and the push towards cashless Insight on the Japanese consumer mindset The rise of BNPL and leading players in Japan Acceleration of e-commerce spend Challenges with the credit underwriting process  The state of Open Banking in Japan The impact of Digital Wallets and QR payment providers Future of payments in Japan and new opportunities 

You can find Morris on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/morris-iwai/

And while you're there, come and find and connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

Or see this all happening in the flesh by attending one of these great upcoming events: Japan Fintech Festival, Sushi Tech Tokyo, or Fintech Summit

Need help launching your startup in Japan? Check out www.launchstarz.com/ for more details.

Meanwhile, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is discussed at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

You can't afford rigid systems in a world that moves fast, but also, for a long time at least, you couldn't afford agile systems in a more dollars and cents sort of way. But these days you can.

Timvero's solutions are all laid out at https://timvero.com/ or head towards a demo by jumping straight to https://timvero.com/request-a-demo/

You're welcome to start a discussion with Dmitriy over on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dmitriy-wolkenstein-7a19b79a/

And while you're there, come and find and connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

As mentioned more than once in this episode, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When you want a model, you typically start with a target variable in mind. But sometimes that's not possible. Perhaps you're entering a new market or expanding into a new niche, you could start lending on a small scale and wait to see what happens. We used to call that a deep risk test, often somewhat euphemistically when a cohort was accidentally approved through a gap in the system. But even if you're happy to take a chance, that takes time - there's no way to shortcut a 12-month outcome.

Enter the u-score, Matogen AI's novel approach to applying an analytical layer to the old-fashioned expert model. In today's episode, I'm speaking to Jacobus Eksteen to learn more about how they did this with Open Banking data from DirectID. This provides a way to jumpstart an Open Banking modelling project, but Open Banking has many arrows in its quiver, so I also speak to Clare McCaffery about the state of the landscape.

Clare is Chief Commercial Officer at DirectID and can be found at https://www.direct.id/

Jacobus is CEO at Matogen Applied Insights and they can be found at https://ai.matogen.com/

And of course, they're both on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/clare-mccaffery-045a7113/ and https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobuseksteen/

And while you're there, come and find and connect at https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

As mentioned more than once in this episode, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

"Causality is the new explainability."

We all know credit limit increases are one of the most, if not the most, important levers in the card profit model. And we all know the reality of managing credit limits is far more complicated than the theory - every action has a reaction and all of that. So we focus on pulling back and releasing the spring of the pinball machine and then just get ready to react as best we can.

But as data analytic techniques become more advanced, we can plan more and leave less to chance. So in this episode, I sit down with Dr Cristian Bravo, from Ontario's Western University, to talk about Sherly Alfonso-Sánchez's research into "Causal Learning for Credit Limit Adjustment in Revolving Lending Under Adversarial Goals"

Western University has data science programs at https://uwo.ca/sci/datascience/index.html

The Banking Analytics Lab is at https://thebal.ai/

If you'd like to speak to Cristian, or just stay up to date with the work he and the BAL are publishing, you can find him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristianbravor/

In our chat, Cristian mentions an early version of this research - that paper can be found and downloaded here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.15585

Or go read Sherly's blog on this same topic at https://thebal.ai/2023/07/11/optimizing-credit-limit-adjustments-under-adversarial-goals-using-reinforcement-learning/

Then come and find me on LinkedIn, and while you're there, send me a connection request: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

As mentioned more than once in this episode, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I've got a drawer in my bedside table that is filled with an assortment of foreign notes and coins: euros and dollars and Rands that I need relatively often but that I'll nevertheless forget to take when I travel next; some Indian rupees that have long since been decommissioned; some Hong Kong dollars because how can it have taken me four years to find an excuse to get back; some, what I think are Cambodian riel; and an unseemly number of hotel room keys. It's chaotic, but even more organised people than me have to work extremely hard to keep international trade relatively efficient, with multiple accounts at different banking institutes to Rands into American dollars so those can be turned into Hong Kong dollars.

Or at least they did, Currencycloud makes this easy to do, enabling efficient cross-border lending at cross-border lending operations at scale. One example doing it really well, is the Spanish startupRitmo.

Ritmo is at home online at https://www.getritmo.com/ and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/ritmo-capital/

And as he mentions on the show, you can either email Jorge directly, or find him at https://www.linkedin.com/in/jorge-juttner-cfa-55a3a068/

Currencycloud can be found at https://www.currencycloud.com/ and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-currency-cloud/

And if you'd like to learn more about what Currencycloud can do for your international business, Maggie can be found at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggie-gemmill-779697119/

LinkedIn is also where you'll find me, and when you do, send me a connection request: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

As mentioned more than once in this episode, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

No good deed goes unpunished and no well-intentioned government loan program goes undefaulted upon, even more so when that government program was designed and implemented in the chaotic early days of the COVID lockdowns.

We've all seen the headlines, but what do the numbers say, what sort of businesses have been defaulting on COVID loans in the UK? Well, Dr Maurizio Fiaschetti is writing the paper on it - along with Drs Ahmed Barakat, Meryem Duygun, Eddie Gerba (PhD), Tian Han, Enrico Onali, Afshin Sabri, Mike Tsionas and Huamao Wang - so I sat down with him to learn more.

You can reach out to Maurizio at https://www.linkedin.com/in/maurizio-fiaschetti-6979073/ to learn more about the research and the publication schedule

If you're interested in studying further at UCL, or indeed in reading their research, you can find the Institute of Finance & Technology at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-finance-technology/ucl-institute-finance-technology

And they're also on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/ucl-institute-of-finance-and-technology/)

Surprise, surprise, LinkedIn is also where you'll find me, and when you do, send me a connection request: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

I met Maurizio while in Edinburgh at the 18th meeting of the Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference - the next one is in two years' time and it’s well-worth planning for. In the meantime, follow the CRC’s work at https://www.crc.business-school.ed.ac.uk/home

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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Nearly two out of every three Colombian jobs are in the informal economy! That's a huge number that needs to come down, and no doubt it will, but until then, someone really needs to bring the benefits of formal financing to the small business owners in the informal sector. Enter Quipuwith whose AI-powered loan decisions "growing is easier, fairer and more alternative".

You can find Viviana on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/viviana-siless/

There's a Quipu page there, too, https://www.linkedin.com/company/quipulatam/ but there's even more information on their homepage over at https://quipu.com.co/

I am on LinkedIn, too, so feel free to find me and send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

I met Viviana while in Edinburgh at the 18th meeting of the Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference - the next one is in two years time and it’s well-wroth planning for. In the meantime, follow the CRC’s work at https://www.crc.business-school.ed.ac.uk/home

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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We all love how easy it is to change bank accounts these days... until it is our customers (and their planned-on deposits) who are moving. After all, we just sent them a pamphlet that very clearly invited them to apply for a loan at an APR of between 5% and 25% variable on term and risk and changes in the base rate, and subject to final credit checks, and late fees and penalties could apply in certain circumstances - that's a good deal, what was there to not understand?

Our lending business have changed dramatically, the way in which we communicate with our customers needs to change, too. In this episode, we chat about deposits and, in particular, about how influencer marketing and affiliate marketing is moving attention and balances to the organisations who know how best to speak to their customer base

In this episode, I'm speaking to Nicky Senyard from Fintel Connect: the leading partner marketing solution for financial services.

Fintel Connect is at https://www.fintelconnect.com/ but of course, being in the influencer game, they're all over social media, too. Find them at LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/fintelconnect/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fintelconnect/) for a start.

Nicky is on LinkedIn, too https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickysenyard/ And that's where you'll find me https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange (send me a connection request there)

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Oh, and as mentioned, you should be following Marcel van Oost if you are not already https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcelvanoost/

Keep well, Brendan

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It's only thirty years since Lithuania's broke free from the Soviet Union, but already it's home a buzzing fintech scene: "Leapfrogging was probably the largest idea behind the Lithuanian success". Join me and Jekaterina Rojaka, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Creditinfo Lietuva, as we explore the roots of that success.

Creditinfo Lithuania can be found at https://lt.creditinfo.com/en/ or jump straight to https://lt.creditinfo.com/en/strongest-in-lithuania/ for award-winning Lithuanian businesses

But, as we've covered on this show before, they've got operations all over the world, so you can also head to https://creditinfo.com/ to find your closest office

On LinkedIn, you can follow them at https://www.linkedin.com/company/creditinfo-lietuva/ but they're also on Facebookand Youtube

And that's where you'll find Jekatarina, too: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jekaterina-rojaka-49909910/

I am on LinkedIn, too, so feel free to find me and send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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"Trust matters more than ever, but in today's anonymous landscape, it is becoming rarer by the day. (At Bondafidee) we want to change that."

I recently sat down with Sasha Marley for one of the most personal interviews I've done here, because fraud isn't just a numbers thing, it has very real human impacts.

Bonafidee is at home online home at https://bonafidee.com/ (or jump straight to YourQNA at https://bonafidee.com/features/your-qna-kba/)

As she mentioned in our chat, Sahsa is very active on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-marley-19156a2/), where you can also find Bonafidee (https://www.linkedin.com/company/bonafidee-com/) But as I went to get the right links, I saw they have just been awarded the Digital Innovation of the Year - Cyber Security/ID Verification Award at the Motor Finance Europe Awards for the Consumer Duty Package we discussed, so you might also want to read more about that (https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7122962260506882048/)

Find the police's tips at https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/

Or walk a very different path by going on your own reiki retreat https://fayjohnstone.com/

I am on LinkedIn, too, so feel free to find me and send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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Nigeria is Africa's biggest economy. Or maybe not quite, economic variables can be hard to measure and somewhat fickle, but whatever way you slice this cake, it is in the top three with Egypt and South Africa. Fintech has played a growing role in that economy, but until now, almost none of the 'fin' that the 'tech' has been modernising was lending-related.

"I knew that if Nigeria was going to grow and the middle class was going to emerge, there has to be a credit culture, right? And I knew that one person wouldn't be able to do it... so I want to be that platform that makes the creation and discovery of credit significantly easy, cheap and very secure."

Adedeji is a Top Leadership Voice on LinkedIn, follow him there for his regular insights at https://www.linkedin.com/in/adedejiolowe/ Check out his work at Lendsqr (https://www.linkedin.com/company/lendsqr/) and Open Banking Nigeria (https://www.linkedin.com/company/openbankingnigeria/) while you're there

But Lendsqr's real home on the internet is https://lendsqr.com/ - go see how they've 'cracked the lending code'

I am on LinkedIn, of course, so feel free to send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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Moishe Gubin is a workhorse, a mule. And now it's paying off: for him, for the banks he leads, and for the communities they serve. In today's episode we chat about work ethic and an old-fashioned path from the bottom to the top, we chat about what communities are, and we talk about bankers becoming a footnote in someone else's success story.

Optimum Bank are at home at https://www.optimumbank.com/ (but as mentioned, you can also find more investor news by searching OPHC on the NASDAQ and financial press, https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/OPHC/)

You can find Optimum Bank on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/company/optimumbank/

LinkedIn is also where you’ll find me (https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange/) and this show (https://www.linkedin.com/company/how-to-lend-money-to-strangers/) - so pop over and send me a connection request

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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"Distressed property can always be repaired, not so distressed people. And so we focus on distressed properties. And that platform has worked very, very well for us: I've done a billion dollars of this, and I will tell you, I have never ever lent on a property that I was not able to fix."

The modern mortgage model is designed to work at scale, so when a deal pops up that's a little outside the norm it can often be more efficient to say no quickly than to spend time thinking it over. But that means that a lot of great deals never see the light of day within the big lenders. But it has to be that way... doesn't it? You couldn't possibly employ a team of property experts to select hidden gems in good neighbourhoods and then ensure they're well restored while still protecting your margin... could you?

I love a lending model that leverages community knowledge and that's what ZINC does - providing financing to contractors who are looking to improve neighbourhoods by buying good but distressed properties and fixing them up. Margins are good. Collateral grows in value. Borrowers have skin in the game and every reason to make it work for your mutual benefit. In this episode, I speak to Todd Pigott about their win-win-win-win approach to private lending for property developers.

ZINC Financial's homepage is at https://zincfinancial.com/ (or at https://zincinvesting.com/ for investors)

But you can also find the ZINC companies on LinkedIn: the lending side at https://www.linkedin.com/company/zinc-financial-inc-/ and the capital side at https://www.linkedin.com/company/zinc-income-fund/

Todd is there, too, at https://www.linkedin.com/in/todd-pigott-893aa861/

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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"If you help a bank to create lending IP, there's always a question around 'who now understands how it works' and 'who owns it'. And the lending IP, that is something that, as a fintech, as a bank, you should own yourself. 

And that is why (instead of consulting) we decided to build software that helps internal risk teams and internal credit teams to create more lending IP, faster, and on their own without having any external dependencies."

Data used to be scarce and rigid, and so the legacy systems we built were designed with that in mind. But data is now everywhere and fluid, and those rigid legacy systems are starting to hold us back. Taktile is a modern decision engine built on a local no-code platform that makes it really easy for credit and risk teams to build and run automated underwriting decisions with a really high level of accuracy. 

Find Taktile at https://www.taktile.com/ or jump directly to their State of Lending report at https://www.taktile.com/state-of-lending-2023

As Maik mentions on here, both he (https://www.linkedin.com/in/maik-taro-wehmeyer) and Taktile (https://www.linkedin.com/company/taktile1/) are active on LinkedIn. I'm there, too, so feel free to send me a connection request while you're there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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We've spoken about lending systems, we've spoken about lending models, and we've spoken about the nuance of diverse markets and even more diverse market niches, but in the end, there's one thing that ties every successful lending business together: people. In this episode, I welcome Northreach's Robbie Blake about how fintechs can attract and grow the right talent, and about how the current market conditions are bringing new recruiting strategies to the fore.

Northreach is over at https://northreach.uk/ (or jump straight to their jobs at https://northreach.uk/search-jobs/)

You can find Robbie on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/robbie-blake-16095616a/ and while you're there, follow the Northreach page at https://www.linkedin.com/company/northreach-uk/

If Instagram is more your flavour, they're here: https://www.instagram.com/northreach_uk/

But as mentioned, you can also find their own podcast, called Coffee Mornings with Northreach, on all the main platforms of by clicking here https://open.spotify.com/show/62vRWLXSzz7FUi7SOtMZSy

I am on LinkedIn, of course, so feel free to send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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One of the most exciting things about working in emerging markets is the opportunity to leap frog old systems - a tool that once had a cutting edge is now an anchor, and to be free of it a means to be nimble.

Now, I’m not suggesting traditional data has reached the point of being an anchor, but markets rich with it have created fully developed ecosystems that may be stifling innovation on other alternative data fronts.

This is why it was so exciting for me to be given a chance to see what’s happening in Latin America, a region that, by and large, fixing gaps in traditional with new and varied alternative data experiments.

I’m spoke to Santiago Espinoza, LexisNexis’s Director of Market Planning for LATAM, to learn more.

You can find LexisNexis Risk Solutions at: https://risk.lexisnexis.com/

They’re also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/lexisnexis-risk-solutions/

Santiago is also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/santiago-espinoza-6385ba

I am on LinkedIn, of course, so feel free to send me a connection request there: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanlegrange

My action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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The Fifa World Cup is the biggest prize in football. So, about ten years ago now, the world's best men's team headed to Brazil with glory on their minds, but it wouldn't be easy: home to loud and loyal fans of the sport's most storied national team, winning in Brazil would take a monumental effort. In fact, many thought it would be impossible. Global lenders know the feeling. Home to half of the people in South America, the Brazilian market is oh so tempting, but oh so hard to break into. But not impossible. Like Germany ten years ago, if you play it right, you can win.

In today's episode, I'm speaking to Vinícius de Andrade Vieira, Head of Business Development at BEXS - connecting Brazil to the world through a digital platform with payment and exchange solutions. We chat about fintech and BNPL in Brazil, the growing global trade, and how international companies can crack the market.

Bexs is over at: https://www.bexs.com.br/

Vinicisu is on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viniciusdeandradevieira/

And I' writing this from the airport, having lost track of the day in the pre-holiday chaos 😳 You can also find and follow me on LinkedIn (or connect) at: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=brendanlegrange

Otherwise, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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Dr Joseph Breeden is an entrepreneur and a researcher. or perhaps I should describe him as an entrepreneur and a discoverer, so keen is his curiosity. And, with 30 years spent at the sharp point of credit analytics innovation, he is also a fantastic speaker on some of the most important topics of the day: machine learning, AI, and managing economic cycles among others. In fact, just yesterday, he delivered a phenomenal keynote address on the topics at the Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference in Edinburgh.

I was there, but if you weren't, don't worry, we have those insights and more on today's episode of HTLMTS.

Deep Future Analytics is at home on the internet at: https://deepfutureanalytics.com/

Joseph himself can be found on LinkedIn, https://www.linkedin.com/in/josephlbreeden/, or, if it is his research you're after, the root to all of that starts here: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Joseph-Breeden

Not content with just that, Jospeh is also the associate editor of two journals you may want to add to your reading list: https://www.risk.net/journal-of-risk-model-validation and https://www.risk.net/journal-of-credit-risk

Oh, and his work on forecasting the auction prices of fine wine can be found here: https://auctionforecast.com/

As mentioned, yesterday saw Joseph on the stage at a packed Credit Scoring and Credit Control Conference in Edinburgh, delivering the opening keynote. It's an exceptional event for those in the industry and while you're busy missing this year's edition, it will be back in two years https://www.crc.business-school.ed.ac.uk/conferences

You can also find and follow me on LinkedIn (or connect) at: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=brendanlegrange

Otherwise, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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Today is Ukraine’s National Day, so there's no better time than to support the people in their endeavours to survive and resist the Russian invasion: donate to World Kitchen at https://donate.wck.org/give/499865/#!/donation/checkout or to Save Lifein UA at https://savelife.in.ua/en/donate-en/#donate-army-card-monthly

“Launch any lending business in an hour.” Normally I write a bit of a blurb here, but really it comes down to that. Launch any lending business in an hour. Actually, as you’ll hear, it’s more like 20 minutes. In a world that is changing, you need to be able to change even faster, which is where no code solutions come to the fore. In today’s episode, I’m speaking to Svitlanka Sergiichuk Romaniuk, co-founder at Neofin - Ukrainian tech going global.

Follow the Neofin story over at https://neo-fin.com/

Svitlanka is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/svitlanaromaniuk/

And follow Neofin while you’re there: https://www.linkedin.com/company/neofin-solutions/

You can also find and follow me on LinkedIn (or connect) at: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=brendanlegrange

Otherwise, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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It’s hard enough for consumers who earn precipitable salaries to manage unpredictable expenses, so imagine the situation for fast-growing e-commerce businesses that have unpredictable incomes and unpredictable expenses. To compensate for the perceived risk, big banks tend to take a very conservative view of repeatable earnings, hampering these businesses' ability to fund their growth.

But what if loan obligations were tied to revenue instead of fixed every month? That’s a great question, and one answered by revenue-based finance. In today’s episode, Pratik Sawal teaches me about revenue-based finance and what it means to turn e-commerce data into growth-powering loans.

Pratik is on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/pratiksawal/

You can find and follow me on LinkedIn (or connect) at: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=brendanlegrange

Otherwise, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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"Profitability is paramount for the global lending industry in 2023. But for lenders to increase profitability under the new status quo, much of the industry must undergo change. To stay ahead of the game, lenders need to fully enable every level of their business to react quickly to market changes and proactively steer their risk selection."

Taktileis using cutting edge data tech to allow businesses to build, run and evaluate automated decision flows quicker and more data-driven than ever before. You can't guess your way to the right decision, as they say. That's right in the target area of this show and yet, we're largely skipping over their skills for this episode, and delving instead into the results of their first annual State of Lending Report. When people ask me about this show, one of the first questions they ask is about reach. And my answer is it's small. But it is also mighty: the most common job titles in my audience run, in descending order, from CEO to founder to co-founder to Managing Director to Credit Manager. Quality over quantity and all of that.

That's also one of the reasons I love this State of Lending Report- at a time we need it more than ever, it builds a guiding star from the combined insights of global lending leaders, half of whom are credit leaders and another quarter of whom are CEO, CPOs, or CTOs. It's a treasure trove, and today we going through it with Maik Taro Wehmeyer, Taktile's co-founder and CEO.

You can - and should - download your own version of the report over here: https://www.taktile.com/articles/taktile-s-state-of-lending-report-reveals-how-lenders-plan-to-grow-more-profitably-in-2023

Or read more about Taktile over here: https://www.taktile.com/

If you're more socially minded, you can - and should again - follow the Taktile journey over on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/taktile1/)

Since we're talking bout LinkedIn, you can - and should - follow me there, too: www.linkedin.com/comm/mynetwork/discovery-see-all?usecase=PEOPLE_FOLLOWS&followMember=brendanlegrange

Otherwise, my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Oh, and Taktile are one fo the big sponsors of the big AltFi Lending Summit coming to London on the 18th of October - register to meet the team there: https://www.altfi.com/events/altfi-lending-summit-2023

Regards, Brendan

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Criminals keep changing the game. Which is annoying, don't they know our models depend on them re-enacting the past behaviours over and over and over again? Sygnohave flipped the script by modelling the good behaviour of your customers... because they're not trying to outmanoeuvre you. Also, there are a lot more of them. Sygno's automated machine learning technology generates monitoring models for Anti-Money Laundering and fraud to make transaction monitoring more effective at a lower cost.

You can start a conversation with Sjoerd over on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjoerdslot/

Sygno is at home at https://www.sygno.com/ but also on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/sygno/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback or questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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This week sees a Dutch double-header on HTLMTS, with two episodes I recorded in Rotterdam while attending Money20/20. First up, a bonus episode that explores how Lendahand gathers capital from socially conscious European investors to empower loans to entrepreneurs in the developing world.

250+ investors are backing d.light, for example, who, with a next loan of EUR 120,000, will provide product financing to families living in rural off-grid communities of Kenya. That project is currently fund-raising over here, by the way; Kaebauk Investimentu no Finansas is raising $150,000 to fund agri-loans to small farmers in Timor-Leste; or, if Modlova is more your scene, Mikro Kapital will provide loans to about 17 small and micro-entrepreneurs there. You get the picture. Choose from proven companies. Invest in the projects that fit your needs. Fight poverty in emerging markets.

It is a simple but effective model.

Lendahand is at https://www.lendahand.com/ (or jump straight to the Impact Report at https://www.lendahand.com/en-EU/blog/856-5-surprising-insights-from-the-impact-report)

Have you ever wondered why your non-ginger friend has a ginger beard? As you'll hear, Adriaan also has you covered on that in one of Vice's most-read articles: https://www.vice.com/en/article/ezv38a/why-do-so-many-men-have-red-beards-but-not-red-hair

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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We Finance Progress... when you visit www.m-kopa.com you're met with this brief but powerful message that, I think, captures the dual business and social impacts of their connected financing platform. In today's episode, I speak to Mayur Patel, Chief Commercial Officer at M-KOPA, about financing life-changing assets collateralized by the service those assets provide. And we talk about a lot more. M-KOPA was founded in 2010 to combine the power of digital micropayments with GSM connectivity to make life-enhancing assets more accessible and has since deployed $1 billion in products and credit to the financially excluded.

"For the majority of our customers - over three-quarters of our customers today - this is the first time they are owning a 4G handset. Those individuals are living under 4G wireless spectrum that's above their heads, but it's really been the affordability of the handset, which is the gateway into that. We've been able to build a strong credit profile for them. That’s unique. We're building a consumer FinTech business here, where the first step with our customers is to help them get access to a productive asset, and then use that as a way to bring them into a much broader financial relationship."

M-Kopa is at https://m-kopa.com/ (and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/m-kopa/)

Mayur Patel is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayur-h-patel/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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Today's episode stretches the lending niche, but fifty-four years ago, humanity landed on the moon, so I'm feeling flexible. And anyway, people lend to airport operators all the time, so it won't be too long until spaceports are seen as similarly stable fixed-cost operators.

When I was younger, if a conversation involved a South African tech billionaire and space, you were talking about Mark Shuttleworth (lovely nominative determinism there, by the way). More recently, the same talking points would more of course be associated with Elon Musk. I'll never not enjoy seeing a SpaceX rocket land back on a barge after a successful launch. But Elon's been busy with other matters, and now there's a new name in the Industry: Russell Shaw.

Is Russell a tech billionaire? No. But I'm not Joe Rogan, so I can't exactly point fingers 🤣 And Russell is involved in an exciting project launching satellites from equatorial Australia.

You should visit Equatorial Launch Australia at https://ela.space/ - the launch footage alone is worth our click.

If you're interested in investing, or indeed if you're interested in launching something into space, feel free to contact Russel on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/russellshaw/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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"Living without a bank account is not only a hindrance to everyday life, but also stunts the financial growth of families and communities. Seymur Mammadov, Founder and CEO of Simbrella, wants to improve the quality of life for unbanked populations through access to financial instruments and microloans." I don't usually quote a different source for these, but when your guest wins the title of EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™, you feel like you have to aim the spotlight that way!

Today the show is taking you to Azerbaijan, an unexpected home to one of mobile fintech's pioneers: Simbrella. Simbrella have now served 220 million customers via 25 companies in 20 countries worldwide, many of whom would otherwise have no access to credit. You can learn more about SImbrella and their services here: https://www.simbrella.com/

They're also on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/simbrella/

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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When I lived in Hong Kong, which was not all that long ago, there were these rather complicated-looking ATMs around town, covered with instructions to help you correctly feed a passbook into them without the staples causing problems. I never actually saw a passbook in the flesh, but they were explained to me as a paper-based statement of record that you updated as needed, like an automated receipt stamp after a significant deposit or withdrawal, rather than the statements the bank sent to you on month end. Since I had internet banking, I never looked any deeper. But not everyone has internet banking.

Rohit Bhargava started his career in banking the year I was born, so he experienced passbooks in their prime, and he was running a retail bank in Malaysia when they were phased out. The arrival of text messages had made them less popular for most customers, and now only a shrinking segment of less tech-savvy consumers relied on them. As a result, the economics went underwater from the bank’s point of view.

Rohit realised that, so he helped the bank convert to monthly statements. But Rohit also realised that that shrinking segment relied on their passbooks. Relied. So when he retired, he set his mind to solving that problem with the BOMTech. I think of it as a Kindle, but for your loan data.

BOMTech is Banking on Mobile + Tech so you can learn more at https://bankingonmobile.com/

Or reach out to Rohit directly on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohit-bhargava-849aab5/) or through me if you’d like to have a chat.

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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“So eventually we raised capital, left our previous platforms, and built this place where the black community around the world could feel like they belong, where their dreams can be financed, from innovation to stories. If they create content, we'll help finance it, we’ll help them grow. And that's the platform that we built.”

Chinedu Enekwe was a fine example of the American Dream: the son of Nigerian immigrants who became a lawyer and then an investment banker. But then he surprised his parents by following an opportunity that took him back to Lagos where the venture-building bug bit. Chinedu has been growing businesses in Africa and America ever since.

In today’s episode, I speak to him about one of those, Nandi Labs, and about how and why he is helping Africa’s premier creators access fair and efficient financing.

Nandi Labs are at https://nandimarket.com/ and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/nandilabs/

You can also find them on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nandimarket

Passbook Ventures is at https://withkoji.com/@Passbook and https://www.linkedin.com/company/passbookvc/

Or if you prefer your interactions more human in nature,reach out to Chinedu directly on LinkedIn (and tell him you found him here)

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Regards, Brendan

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It's no secret that I am a fan of the BNPL concept while still being a little nervous about how it has been implemented. Some of the valuations have been built on sand, but that's not what I'm concerned about here, instead, I'm referring to independent lenders all chasing growth with no thought to see the combined impact of their independent activities. Luckily, there's a relatively easy fixe for that: the good old-fashioned credit bureau. There's still work to be done to make the infrastructure fit the data, as you'll hear from Simon Forster, but the good news is that we're already a few months into this journey in the UK.

Picking up from what we covered with ZIlch on episode 102, today we're talking about what we're learning now that BNPL's are sharing their data with Experian, and the credit bureaus.

There's a huge amount of information over at https://www.experian.co.uk/business/ (or at https://www.experian.com/business/ for American listeners) However, if it's the given the topics discussed today that have you intrigued, you can go straight to https://www.experian.co.uk/business/industries/buy-now-pay-later for insights from their BNPL work.

As Simon said, his team create more than just BNPL insights, so also poke around at https://www.experian.co.uk/blogs/latest-thinking

Simon is on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-forster-78b8897/ (the company as a whole is at https://www.linkedin.com/company/experian/)

You can learn more about myself, Brendan le Grange, on my LinkedIn page (feel free to connect), my action-adventure novels are on Amazon, some versions even for free, and my work with ConfirmU and our gamified psychometric scores is at https://confirmu.com/ and on episode 24 of this very show https://www.howtolendmoneytostrangers.show/episodes/episode-24

If you have any feedback, questions, or if you would like to participate in the show, please feel free to reach out to me via the contact page on this site.

Keep well, Brendan

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