We are delighted to announce the launch of the Alliance’s first Hackathon, the winners of which will be announced on the second day of our Annual Summit. The Alliance Hack was born out of our latest research into fintech and the female economy. The research is a temperature check on how focus on the female economy by fintechs, whom we know can solve many of the remaining pain points for full financial inclusion of all women. We found that while the the business case for targeting women is strong—similar or higher usage patterns and similar or lower cost of customer acquisition for women—very few fintechs disaggregate data by sex when calculating their market potential. Still fewer look at life-time value of customers, a metric that highlights the value of targeting women. Similarly, venture capital, for the most part, does not enquire about women’s markets.
The great reveal on the business case will be at the Summit. The numbers stack up. We’re asking fintechs and VCs to line up behind them. And we’re asking you, our members and ecosystem stakeholders, to spread the word to fintechs in your network who might be interested in participating in the hackathon.
The winners of the Alliance Hack will be announced on the second day of our Annual Summit, which is focused on fintech. We have amazing prizes, including US$25,000 cash prize for the top contender and incredible pathway opportunities for first, second and third places. We have an unbelievable support system led by our host—the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and APIX—and our partners including Singapore Fintech Festival, Mastercard Start Path, Swift and We-fi. The Alliance Hack challenges call for innovative tech-base solutions in four tracks—banking, wealth, insurance, and payments. We’ve designed these challenges to tackle some of the knottier problems in supporting women, and you will note they involve not just financial but non-financial services.
Our Summit will gather leading fintechs—many founded by women—and ecosystem orchestrators to discuss how to incentivize more gender intelligent fintech. Some of the evident gender neutrality is a drive for big numbers quickly with perhaps a pinch of unconscious bias thrown in; but there is also widespread lack of awareness regarding women’s market opportunities. And there are disconnects. For example, our own members report little connection between their women’s markets teams and the teams that work with fintech. We need to connect the dots. Partnering, unpacking and mitigating data bias, and getting stakeholders aligned are just some of the fascinating topics lined up for the Alliance’s Annual Summit Fintech Day on October 7.
In the leadup to that day, we’ve had the great pleasure of speaking with Virginia Tan, founding partner of Teja Ventures, the first gender-lens VC fund for emerging Asia focused on early stage technology companies for the She Economy. Virginia shared her investment philosophy and her views on what it will take to get more investors to focus on the female economy.
Also this month, we extend a very warm welcome to our newest member
Banking Payment Context (BPC) a payments company with a strong focus on financial inclusion. We interviewed Jane Loginova BPC’s Global Chief Commercial Officer to learn about the company, including their efforts to bring the latest technology to underserved segments.
And last, but by no means least, our network news roundup shares the latest endeavors and accomplishments from our members and stakeholders.
Join us for our Summit and please spread the word about the Alliance Hack.
Thank you all.
In community,