Felicia Meyerowitz Singh is a serial entrepreneur passionate about fintech, wealthtech, innovation and digital change. Her achievements include:

• Founder and CEO of Akoni Hub, a UK wealthtech platform, where she recently exited
• Co-founder of Hive Founders, a global network of female entrepreneurs, supporting founders at any stage
• Managing Director of strategic relationships at leading wealthtech firm FNZ
• Fintech mentor for the UK Department of International Trade
• MBA from London Business School

She talks about:

• How entrepreneurs need grit, determination and perseverance
• How to use talent, energy and experience to build high growth companies
• Having a bias for action by spotting gaps in the market and solving for them

Felicia is a true fintech warrior.

Read the highlights below. Links to the full interview at the bottom of the article

On grit;

“I highly recommend if anyone wants to start their business, I always just say go for it. Be aware, you need to have tenacity and grit. Grit is my favourite word, because it's a combination of determination, perseverance, never giving up.”

On work life balance (and childcare);

“I know people talk about work life balance, and I personally did when I was a startup but I'm not even sure now - I don't really believe in it - the way people talk about it. I think the best from my perspective that I could hope for, and most founders are, the most high energy entrepreneurs and there’s periods of time where work or life is more than the other. As opposed to, on a daily basis, having overall balance.

I had to juggle a lot when my daughter was young and that was a major challenge. To me, for a society like the UK, if we want to encourage entrepreneurs, we have to make that playing field a little bit more level. Because if you have no access to either family who are there available for childcare, or a lot of money to pay for childcare, then inevitably, primarily led to being a woman who sort of sits at home and its difficult for them to use their talent or their experience or their energy to actually drive some sort of entrepreneurial venture. So that for me is one thing is that being able to acknowledge the reality of childcare and have a solution to it.

You have to acknowledge that there are sacrifices to be made. If you cant then there's almost no chance you can build a high growth business. I'm not talking about a small business, you run from home. I'm talking about a high growth business where you need a pump resources, then you'd be out there seeing clients driving your growth, managing a whole bunch of complex resources, fundraising, and so on. You know, it is a serious commitment. You have to be very focused on that.

There are times when you have to just say, you know, what can't do both, I can't have both, and in many cases, not have a holiday, sometimes for a few years, you can go away, but you aren't going to switch off.

So, I enjoy overall mental health and balance, the things that I think are very helpful, are exercise, any form of exercise that works for someone, whether it's a walk, or jog, or run, whatever it is, meditation, or yoga, whatever works, if that resonates with someone doesn't work for everyone, and having a support structure of some sort. If you don't have family around you - I'm not from the UK so I don't - but we've almost created our own family through our support structure. And I was very fortunate in that respect, I have a few of my very close friends who could see this was not an easy process for me. And they provided help, when needed. And, and that made a made a huge difference. To me, if you are disciplined enough to switch off on holidays and weekends, then I would say that's another tool in the toolbox.

The last one for me is being surrounded by a fantastic team. That makes a huge difference if you are starting up a business, because then when you need support within the business, you've got people that you can rely on and depend on. And having some way where you can identify people early if it's not working or maybe it’s a toxic relationship, or whatever the case may be. And you can go your separate ways otherwise that it more stress and strain. You want to be able to remove that to keep your eye on the goal and have your whole startup pointing in the direction and one direction of growth.”

On working in fintech vs. traditional finance ;

“It's about someone knowing themselves, sometimes you fit your personality fits within a bank, and that's also fine. But within fintech, there's an opportunity also for much faster growth. So even if you're going into a larger fintech, the likelihood is if you're in early enough that you will rapidly, you know, transition through the ranks because the company is growing as you are growing. And you kind of do that time early on, which is luck, seriously hard work as the business is building up. Then you are much more senior than you would be if you had just gone into a banking programme. That in itself is extremely rewarding. Seeing what you built and what you've been part of. In addition, in some fintechs the salaries may be competitive with banks, depending on the role, and you get equity, which then could take it in an entirely different direction, when the fintech lists or sells or to another corporate.”

On mindset for young people to succeed in fintech;

“I'd say be open and persevere. Be open to opportunities, work hard, stay determined and persevere. There is no role where you're not faced with challenges, and just persevering through that will actually bring a huge amount of rewards in both your learning the financial progress you make as your career develops. Be very open minded and be prepared to put in that hard work.”

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FULL TRANSCRIPT

Matthew Cheung 0:00Hi. This is Matt from work in FinTech. And today I'm delighted to be joined by Felicia Meyerowitz Singh, who's a Fintech and wealthtech entrepreneur. She is founder and CEO of Akoni, where she successfully exited. And she's currently MD of FNZ, which is a top 100 wealth tech company. Hi, Felicia.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 0:23I met. Thank you so much for having me.

Matthew Cheung 0:26There. Absolutely. Welcome. So let's jump straight in in terms of your story and your background, because there's lots of interesting companies that you've been involved with and set up over the years. You just talked to that staff?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 0:40Yeah, so my background originally was I'm from South Africa. And I had a very corporate background, I'm conventionally trained as a chartered accountant and a management consultant. So I do have a background in information systems. And then that in turn, led me to come into London. And my entrepreneurial journey started, where originally I was with a team and we built a we left a big corporate started our own firm in the Lloyds market and sold that that was sold to Willis. And I tried a few other ventures, and before actually setting up a Coney. So I can say that I learned a lot of lessons along the way, and continue continue to learn those and apply them to life in general. And I love the entrepreneurial high growth, financial services, fintechs WelTec market, I think it's experiencing an incredible amount of change. And we're really seeing that and servicing clients and providing solutions to client needs, is what's driving that kind of change. And being able to apply the technology and innovation is just an amazing, amazing opportunity being in the market.

Matthew Cheung 2:00You mentioned Lloyds. I've been into Lloyds and have a friend who's an insurance broker. There's not many women in that market. How was that at the time?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 2:11So what's quite interesting is when I was there, it was in a very corporate role. And actually, I was one of the very few senior woman and young as well. So at the time, I didn't, I didn't really think about it, it took me becoming a startup founder to really notice the difference in terms of senior woman because suddenly I was the co founder of a FinTech and had to go out there the fundraising be speaking to all our clients and partners like banks. And that became a challenge with certain things where I was like, well, this seems strange. And you've had experiences, which I think in a way, only women face not not ever only women, but women or minorities, and quite subtle differences in the market. And so it really made me reflect back on my time when, you know, we were Lloyd's underwriting and Lloyds broker, and wonder why I hadn't noticed that at that point. And I think there's something about the corporate world that to a certain effect sort of buffers you, or protects you from, you know, certain types of harsh realities, perhaps. And whereas when you become a founder, you just have to face them and deal with them. And interestingly enough, relating to diversity, as a result of that myself and another female founder, Andrea, we set up an organisation a members organisation called Hi founders, to support early stage female founders. And that was to solve this kind of problem that, you know, lots of people face these issues. And when you look at the statistics, they are appalling in terms of funding that goes to female founders. And what we want to do is contribute to the solution, and be part of that. And now we have more than 300 members and so on. So there's a lot of challenges, but also opportunities in the sector.

Matthew Cheung 4:10And how early are we in the lifecycle of people being more open and welcoming them things being more diverse? Are we still a generation away? Or is it happening quick? Yeah.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 4:21I mean, I think the World Bank give some sort of crazy statistics that if change happens in terms of, you know, gender equality in commerce, it will be in another 100 years, really put forward get there. And COVID actually was a big setback, because usually not always, but usually women are in caretaking roles in addition to working roles. And during COVID Obviously, those responsibilities were ramped up if you had children at home or were taking care of elderly relatives and so on. And that impacted the you know, The agenda agenda, as it's called, and the progress. So I think there's a lot of statistics about it and a lot of media attention. But in fact, overall, we haven't seen much progress over the last few years. And I, I personally believe that we need some sort of policy level intervention. Because it's, this is not an issue of man versus woman, this is a societal issue. And when you get something that's as complex as that starts with, you know, at childhood, and there's markers during education, and during early Korea and progress to your professional life, when it's that complex, we, we need some sort of government intervention, saying these are the markers, this is where we are seeking to change society. On the good news side, the UK, obviously, is one of the leaders in terms of promoting gender equality, and everything that that entails. So we're in it, we're in the right market for that. But we need to apply it as broadly as possible.

Matthew Cheung 6:04I agree, it needs to be a government policy, because childcare in the UK is amongst the highest in the world. Right? So then, so then the decision, if you want to have lots of kids, someone's got to look after them, because it's too expensive to pay someone to do it.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 6:18Well, that's why I have one kid. Me too.

Matthew Cheung 6:21He too. So talk talk talking about that. Firstly, if you can just explain what wealthtech is, but But on that point of having a child, yeah, you've got a child, not a nine year old, I think you said, and you've stopped startup started up multiple companies, you've had a successful company where you've been bought out. So how, how have you kind of managed all of that as well. And I think when we're talking earlier, there's a lot of energy there, which which obviously helps. But if but if you could kind of talk about that, but just before we jump into akoni, and what you did with that company, just just explain to people what is wealthtech? Where does it sit? And what is it?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 7:02So we'll take his part of FinTech, you know, and obviously Fintech is new technology, to automate, innovate, improve the lives of clients who use financial services, and it touches all of our lives, you know, if you aren't going on to an investment app, and suddenly, you're able to do it on your phone. Whereas historically, if you think back in the day, you'd have to call up a stockbroker, you wouldn't be able to access market data freely. Now, all of that has completely changed. And it's really democratised that for clients, so everyone should have access. And, you know, opening up wealth and retail investment is something that WelTec provides, because sometimes you hear the word Well, tech, and people think, oh, it's for people who are wealthy. And it's not, it's for anyone who is slowly growing their assets. And that applies to almost everyone of working age in the UK, because we all get usually auto enrolled into a pension. So even if you only contributing 100 pounds a month, you actually have a WelTec a pot of you know, not well take a pot of wealth, which is using technology to grow that. So there's a whole range of solutions, obviously, within WelTec. Within investment and the markets, whether it's transacting and delivering, you know, a new share that you want to acquire, or giving you access to IPOs, which historically only institutions had access to, or providing very large complex platforms, which are simple for clients to use. For, you know, very large players in the markets, you know, names that we recognise all the big investment platforms and so on. So it's quite, quite wide ranging, and obviously for the younger generation, who are very into crypto and NF T's that is 10 Gently associated with WelTec, because the crypto market has managed to reach that younger generation in a way that perhaps traditional investment markets have haven't. And that could be you know, the language that is spoken or the type of risks that are associated with them and so on. And all of that is changing rapidly, which means that technology has got to keep up to be able to provide those solutions that the end client wants a

Matthew Cheung 9:31fantastic good description of wealth tech. And you talk to us about akoni And what is it Where did the idea come from you you've been successful, the other end and have exited that company as well. He talks through that journey for people because there's lots of people always say they want to start their own businesses but there's there's a lot more than you need them that to actually do. Because if you can just share some of your wins sides. Yep.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 10:01So the first thing is, I highly recommend if anyone wants to start their business, I always just say go for it. Be aware, you need to have tenacity and grit. Grit is my favourite word, because it's a combination of determination, perseverance, never giving up. So that's the first thing. And I'm always happy for anyone to reach out who's looking at starting a business and just wants to chat. So that's the first thing, go for it. The second is a my, when when I started akoni, like I had a problem. Previously, I used to be a CFO of a very large corporate, we managed a lot of cash, and there just weren't any solutions, you know, unless I went to my bank, and they said, we weren't big enough, because we weren't like a global multinational. So we didn't qualify for any of the corporate treasury functions. And they were in this weird sweet spot where we were too big to do nothing but too small to get any access to services. And also for myself, personally, as a saver, I just found it very hard to move money between banks and deposits. And I'd worked in the market for a long time and being part of creating panels with insurance. So I knew we could create that kind of panel. And we obviously needed to build the technology and open banking came along. So there were certain aspects of data that became streamlined. And the purpose is really simple, creating cash as a third party asset, almost cash as a service. So a client could maximise returns on cash per the risk profile, and move it around with only one point of access. You don't have to go and open 10 accounts with 10 different banks, you came and opened one account with a muffin tech, which is a regulated company, and then we would prompt you as and when to move your funds around. So it came from a pain point that I had. And then it became more sophisticated as we develop the proposition out into the market, with the aim of actually selling a full API first solution to investment platforms for their clients. So we didn't have to build in this distribution, partnering with wealth managers, and financial advisors, and so on. And I'd say fintechs, if you are being regulated, can be very complex. So if you are wanting to set up a startup, that's fantastic. If you want to move into a space where you as a company have to be regulated, you need the right team around you to understand that, whether that is getting a compliance officer or the right board members or investors that, you know, fit your vision and so one, because you have a responsibility to consumers, or to other clients who themselves may be regulated. And that responsibility extends far beyond, say a company that's, you know, a startup that may be selling a product or service that isn't regulated. And yeah, I think it's very key to understand that there are governance and structures and frameworks around any most things in FinTech. Well, tech, is also insure tech, which, if you knew as an entrepreneur, you might you might be quite shocked by, but they're all there for the purpose of protecting our consumers. And you know, to keep that in mind. So yeah, I went through the journey. You know, we raised money from angels and one institution, and and then it was acquired actually quite early on. So when it was seed stage, by another larger FinTech insurer tech company that was looking for the kind of services and solutions that we provide it. i It's just a very exciting journey. And what I can say to companies, it's you have to understand what first of all your client and their pain points, and then develop the solution, build your market, build your fundraising, what you need, and so on. And each one of those is its own business plan. And you have to put resources and time into it. And it's something which actually, we've helped quite a few discussions, as I mentioned, hi founders, to help founders plan, their journey and so on. And, you know, we could have a few talks just on those topics.

Matthew Cheung 14:30We'll take you up on that. We can do something with Work in Fintech. And going back to what we're talking about, about juggling lots of different responsibilities in your work life and your personal life, how, how have you maintain that balance and used everything to to help feed everything else?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 14:52So I know people talk about work life balance and all of that, and I personally certainly when I was a startup I'm not even sure now, I don't really believe in it, the way people talk about it, I think, the best from my perspective that I could hope for, and most founders are most high energy entrepreneurs, and even high energy, you know, corporate people is periods of time where one is more than the other. So as opposed to, you know, on a daily basis, have overall balance, I had to juggle a lot when my daughter was young. And, you know, we previously spoke about how expensive childcare is. So that is a major challenge. To me, for a society like the UK, if we want to encourage entrepreneurs, we have to make that playing field a little bit more level. Because if you have no access to either family who are there available for childcare, or a lot of money to pay for childcare, then inevitably, primarily led to being a woman who sort of sits at home. And, and, and doesn't use their talent or their experience or their energy to actually drive some sort of entrepreneurial venture. So that for me is one thing is that being able to acknowledge the reality of childcare, and have a solution to it, if that's, you know, something, you know, an entrepreneurial venture that someone wants to start, that's the first thing or whatever care obligations someone has, and and also acknowledge that you have to the sacrifices that have to be made. At this, I feel that there's almost no chance you can build a high growth business. I'm not talking about you know, business, small business, you run from home, and it's just one person selling photo frames on Etsy, I'm talking about you want to grow a high growth business where you need a pump resources, then you'd be out there seeing clients driving your growth, managing a whole bunch of complex resources, fundraising, and so on. You know, it is a serious commitment. And you have to be very focused on that. So there are times when you have to just say, you know, what can't do both, I can't have both, and in many cases, not have a holiday, sometimes for a few years, you can go away, but you aren't going to switch off. So I think I enjoy terms of overall mental health and balance, the things that I think are very helpful, are exercise, any form of exercise that works for someone, whether it's a walk, or jog, or run, whatever it is, meditation, or yoga, whatever works, if that resonates with someone doesn't work for everyone, and having a support structure of some sort. If you don't have family around, like, you know, I don't, I'm not from the UK, so I don't have family. But we've almost created our own family through our support structure. And I was very fortunate in that respect, during that period of time, I think a few of my very close friends could see this was not an easy process for me. And they provided help, when needed. And, and that made a made a huge difference. To me, if you are disciplined enough to switch off on holidays and weekends, then I would say that's another tool in the toolbox. And then the last one for me is being surrounded just by a fantastic team. That makes a huge difference if you are starting up a business, because then when you need support within the business, you've got people that you can rely on and depend on. And, and having some way where you're lacking early identify people it's not working out with or maybe you're toxic, whatever the case may be. And you know, you go your separate ways kind of thing. Because that will also put stress and strain. And you want to be able to remove that to keep your eye on the goal and have your whole startup pointing in the direction, one direction of growth, not sort of trying to go in this way. And you're going that way and so on.

Matthew Cheung 19:14And I think the in addition to that kind of that support network, just through say doing this podcast series, I've spoken to the lots of amazing people and through work in FinTech and, you know, I push pull on the other things I'm involved in, you keep your network kind of keeps growing and keeps going up a level as well. And then you feed off that energy. And it's that old adage of you know, you're, you're the combination of all the average of the five people you hang around with, but you can pick and choose who those five people are. And it's really important like they can, you know, if there is someone toxic that's in your life, you need to you need to deal with it in whichever way you can. Because you can't have anything holding you back and sapping all that energy that you need to be pumping it into your to your business, and your family and everything else.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 20:00Yeah. And on what you're saying, just to echo that is essentially it's like an ecosystem. And especially in FinTech, well, tech, where things are changing so fast, there's not one person that has all the answers. We're not in a mature sector, that you can say, oh, you know, 50 years ago, we did it like this. And this guy he knows or she knows. So that ecosystem that you're referring to, I think it's it's worth adding as the fifth point of support, where it could be finding mentors could be finding equals who you can discuss things with informally, sometimes it's finding a network that works, you know, and also, like, this example, you saying, growing that?

Matthew Cheung 20:41Brilliant, in terms of, I suppose, going back to when you were early in your career, or when you first came over and to the UK? Is there any advice you would kind of give to yourself then and more broadly to young people who are who might be studying or they've started their careers, but they see FinTech and wealth, second crypto and all these fast moving industries and want to get involved but not too sure where to start? Have you got any advice for the people in those positions?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 21:13Yeah, yeah. So I think first thing is, identify whether you want to go into a company, or whether you want to start your own. And there's nothing wrong with saying, oh, I want to start my own, not sure what I want to do. So let me go in and learn X, I would recommend then going in at a slightly later stage, FinTech where you can learn the ropes across a number of divisions, because business has got multiple functions to it. So FinTech people think, oh, I need to be an expert in tech, and finance. And actually, you don't need to be an expert in either of those because there's marketing roles in a fintech. And you can come in as a recent grad, or even during your studies. And you can learn well, what do fintechs do in terms of marketing, and even within marketing, you could be a direct company, like stalling or revolute. Or you could be a b2b or an enterprise company like an F and Zed. So again, there are different roles within that. And you'll learn as you go about the sector and about the role. So you get both of that type of experience. You know, personally, I think that FinTech and financial services are one of the most fantastic industries to be part of, and people who feel a bit mystified or concerned or even, you know, a lot of people like, well, I don't want to go into finance, it could be boring, or it could be confusing. Actually, once you're in the sector, you learn so quickly. And Landon is for sure, one of the global leaders in terms of FinTech, so you're in the right place to learn even more and be well positioned for growth. And, you know, we spoke about marketing, but the same is true for HR. If you the same is true for technology, you might be a developer, but actually, you coming into financial services, you then learn and become that industry and sector expert to develop in FinTech or unregulated products or whatever. So it's a wide range of opportunities. And you don't have to be in finance or in tech to deliver on them and be part of it. So yeah, and and also, the other thing I recommend is if you're a student, and you got a business idea, just do it. I mean, you know, if it's if it's going to own, the only thing that's going to do is cost you time and you have time, because you're young, you maybe don't have kids yet, take the risk, take the step be brave, I really, I just think we've got a new generation of entrepreneurs. And we've seen that, especially during COVID People have stepped up their entrepreneurial ventures and so on, and just get out there and do it.

Matthew Cheung 23:56No, absolutely, I call that 100% That, that thing of risk and reward, you can take the most risk at the start of your career. Because all the doors are open to you and I own all the doors will always remain open to you. But it's just a slightly harder when you're start going down one path, but in the beginning, you can choose anything that you want. You don't have all of the responsibilities that come as you know, you might get a mortgage and then you have some children and then your your your focus can can can change depending on your responsibilities. But yes, it's gonna take that risk when when you can and you can always take the risks if they're calculated, but more so at the beginning of your career. But then, can you just talk about the risk and reward because there's the risk and then there's the reward? Right? And that's something that with people who are looking at traditional finance, traditional finance is, you know, it's been around for what, 600 years or longer, you know, banks have been around for that long. You've got an industry that is growing, you know, 5% a year or something very mediocre but Then you got FinTech, which is growing like 10x Every single year, you know. And what we say to all work in FinTech says to people in our community is, you know, attach yourself to the Right Sector, you know, FinTech and web three, that's the sector you want to be in. And then you can work out from there, you know, after you dip your toe in which company you like which role you like, just just get in there somewhere. And if you attach yourself to a fast growing company, your your the knowledge you're going to learn the your earning potential as well being attached those fast growing companies is going to take you in a very different trajectory than if you're just kind of working a bank. And working at banks trying to get on the grad programme is very, very competitive. Whereas fintechs got this massive opportunity out there. And they're just dying for people to come and work for them. They're recruiting like crazy, but that kind of risk and reward piece is something which I'm always trying to pass that on. So good, if you can elaborate on that as well.

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 25:59Yeah. So again, I think it's also about someone knowing themselves, sometimes you fit your personality fits within a bank, and that's also fine. But within FinTech, there's an opportunity also for much faster growth. So even if you're going into a larger FinTech, the likelihood is if you're in early enough that you will rapidly, you know, transition through the ranks because the company is growing as you are growing. And you kind of do that time early on, which is luck, seriously hard work as the business is building up. And so yeah, then you are much more senior than you would be if you had just gone into a banking programme. And that, in itself is extremely rewarding, you know, seeing what you built and what you've been part of, and, and all of that. In addition, in some fintechs, you know, the salaries may be competitive with banks, depending on the role, and you get equity, which then could take it in an entirely different direction, when the FinTech lists or sells or to another corporate, or whatever the case may be.

Matthew Cheung 27:08And as well not to sugarcoat it, is, it's hard work working in startups. It's, it's very demanding, but it is very rewarding, and you end up loving it, because you really enjoy what you're doing. And you can feel the synapses in your brain firing all the time. Yeah, and so there's always new problems and new challenges. And it's and it's, it's fun, it's fun. Okay, so we'll just finish off with what do you got one, one last question. What would you say is a good mindset for young people to have, who are who are coming into either the industry or looking to, or looking to dip their toe in what's a good mindset to have to succeed in this industry?

Felicia Meyerowitz Singh 27:56I'd say be open and persevere. So be open to opportunities, work hard, you know, stay determined and to persevere. So whenever you know, because there will be frustrations, there is no role where you're not faced with challenges, and just persevering through that will actually bring a huge amount of rewards in both your learning the financial progress you make as your career develops, and so on. But you have to be very open minded and be prepared to put in that hard work.

Matthew Cheung 28:30Fantastic. Felicia Merritt saying thank you so much for joining us today. It's been really interesting. If anyone wants to reach out, where's the best place to find you?