The Trillion Dollar Opportunity: Financial Inclusion | Emerging Markets | FinTech

In our season finale, two treasury management CEOs share what keeps them going when building gets hard. John Santillan of Octa discusses building in public and why authenticity beats pretending to have all the answers. David Hanna of Finmo explains why surrounding yourself with people who challenge your thinking is essential for making better decisions.

Two founders are using AI to solve finance problems that keep CFOs up at night. David Hanna, co-founder and CEO of Finmo, discusses replacing the daily ritual of downloading 20+ bank statements with real-time global cash visibility. John Santillan, co-founder and CEO of Octa, talks about using AI to cut payment delays from 120 days to 30 days, unlocking billions in working capital. Discover how th...

Linda Yu, Growth Partner at Quona Capital and formerly at SoftBank and Warburg Pincus, shares her journey to becoming an investor deploying billions in global investments. She believes that embedded finance has evolved from a FinTech niche to become the backbone of global commerce. Linda also shares her advice for startup founders pitching venture capitalists.

How did the coffee you drink get to your local cafe? Or the flour that went into your breakfast pastry? Or the latest electronic gadget delivered to your doorstep? Well, you can thank a trucker. Truckers are the unsung heroes of the global economy, and this is especially true in Mexico where 75 percent of freight moves by road. Maria Jose Aguilar Belmont, Investment Analyst for Quona based in Mexi...

How can entrepreneurs in Africa navigate today's challenging fundraising environment? Hosts Shannon and Johan, joined by Adrienne Henderson from Quona Capital, share essential insights for founders building FinTech companies in emerging markets. We’ll touch on why asset-light business models matter more than ever and the critical importance of choosing long-term investor partners.  The content her...

In 2023, India accounted for nearly 25% of all global IPOs with 340 public offerings, while the entire Middle East and Africa combined had just 50 IPOs. What created this massive gap, and how can Africa bridge it? Join hosts Shannon and Johan as they explore India's remarkable transformation from a nascent market to home of the world's most sophisticated digital financial infrastructure. With gues...

What does it really take to disrupt traditional insurance markets in emerging economies? In this special minisode of The Trillion Dollar Opportunity, hosts Johan and Shannon share valuable entrepreneurial insights from two founders who are creating entirely new categories in Asia’s InsurTech industry. This is essential wisdom for founders creating new categories in emerging markets. Kulin Shah, co...

Forget everything you thought you knew about insurance—it's not just paperwork and policies, it's a financial lifeline keeping millions from falling into poverty. In this episode of The Trillion Dollar Opportunity, co-hosts Johan Bosini and Shannon Austin explore how insurance has become the critical second phase of financial inclusion in emerging markets. When 330 million people in India lack hea...

In Brazil, high interest rates and revolving credit lines can trap borrowers. So how can borrowers break free of these toxic cycles? This week, hosts Shannon Austin and Johan Bosini explore how high-interest rate loans can trap borrowers, and cultural reluctance toward long-term loans. Fabio Zveibil, VP of Auto and Home Secured Lending at Creditas, joins the show again to talk about how better len...

Brazil is one of the most expensive countries to access credit. Credit cards can have 400 percent interest rates. Even business owners face loans with 20 percent interest rates. This week on the Trillion Dollar Opportunity, hosts Shannon Austin and Johan Bosini explore what happens when good credit is hard to come by, and one FinTech that has changed the credit access landscape for the better. We...

Five billion transactions are made each month with Pix, Brazil’s real time payment system, which was launched by the Central Bank of Brazil in 2020. Today Pix reaches more than 90 percent of the adult population and settles more transactions than any other financial instrument including debit, credit, and prepaid cards.  This week on the podcast, we pick up with Part 2 of Quona co-founder Jonathan...

Brazil has one of the most successful real-time payment systems in the world. This week on the podcast, we share a fireside chat with the man who leads the design and implementation of the real-time payment system Pix. Carlos Eduardo Brandt is the Senior Advisor at the Central Bank of Brazil. Quona Co-founder Jonathan Whittle took the stage with Carlos at Quona’s recent annual meeting to discuss h...

Where are the opportunities for artificial intelligence to transform FinTech startups in emerging markets? And how are startups already taking advantage of what AI has to offer? This week, Quona co-founder Monica Brand Engel and Senior Investment Associate Michel Zaidler join the podcast to share insights on how generative AI is transforming the FinTech startup ecosystem in emerging markets, inclu...

Information is crucial to any investor. But what happens when assumptions hide the truth about market opportunities? This week on The Trillion Dollar Opportunity, Quona investors based in India, Africa, and Latin America join us to share some assumptions about their markets and the blind spots such assumptions may lead to for investors. Is banking in Africa really disorganized? Is innovation reall...

Where are the opportunities in emerging markets? This week, Quona’s three founders, Monica Brand Engel, Jonathan Whittle, and Ganesh Rengaswamy, share the specific regions where Quona focuses —India and Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and MENA. But why these regions? And how do the opportunities in these markets differ or overlap? These markets are closely connected, often borrowing innovati...

How did Quona Capital come to identify and pursue the trillion-dollar opportunity in emerging markets? This week, hosts Shannon Austin and Johan Bosini delve into Quona's journey from its roots in Accion's pioneering microfinance investments—including a significant windfall from a standout company—to becoming independent venture investors with a bold vision. Quona’s three founders, Monica Brand En...

The world as we know it is changing. As the global economy continues to grow and expand, investors will be missing out on opportunities if they hold a blind spot to emerging markets. That’s what we call the Trillion Dollar Opportunity. This podcast from Quona, hosted by Shannon Austin and Johan Bosini, will share insights from investors and founders who are localized experts in emerging markets. L...