Purpose Driven FinTechs are predicated on accessibility and inclusiveness - it's not about building a product that a very few people really love and admire and adore and become early adopters.

Fasset is an all-in-one financial super app that allows people and businesses to securely invest, earn, and make payments and they are targeting a broader subsegment of society with financial services using blockchain technology — so that more people to benefit from it!

Come behind the scenes with me all the way to the UAE. Meet Umair Javed, Chief Business Officer at Fasset. We discuss how to reach 98% of society with Fasset Connect, the complexities of building a high-performance culture, handling execution challenges, and fostering innovation without getting swayed by technology hype, financial education, rethinking traditional business models to achieve long-term impact - what and much more!

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👉 Connect with Umair:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mumairjaved/
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/fassethq/posts/?feedView=all
• Website: https://fasset.com/

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• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monicamillares/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@moni_millares
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@moni_millares

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Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

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This is maybe goes against a little bit, sort of the Silicon Valley grain, which is build a product that a very few people really want to build. Love and admire and adore and become early adopters. I think for us, what we're trying to do is really target a broader subsegment of society. And we think that when it comes to financial services that are offered using, in our case, blockchain technology, we need to expand that net and really get more people to be able to benefit.

Umair: Hello Umair, welcome to the show. It's a pleasure having you here. Hi, Monica. Thank you so much for having me. Delighted to be here. No, the pleasure is all mine. So this podcast is all about how can we build more purpose driven fintechs, yourselves being one of them. So what is your take?

How can we build more purpose driven fintechs? Yeah, it's something that we spend a lot of time thinking about, Monica. Facet at our core. We look for a lot of sort of qualities and we're hiring people and when we're talking to people 1 of the key things that we believe in this kind of our mission and being mission driven is absolutely imperative.

Now,

Monica Millares: our mission,

Umair: which is aligned to your question, how do we build. Purpose driven index

Umair: really, it's about,

Monica Millares: it's not about building this is maybe goes against a little bit sort of the Silicon Valley grain, which is build a product that a very few people really love and admire and adore and become early adopters.

I think for us, what we're trying to do is really. Target a broader subsegment of society and we think that when it comes to financial services that are offered using, in our case, blockchain technology, we need to expand, that,

Umair: sort of

Monica Millares: net and really get more people, to be able to benefit

Umair: from, this piece of technology.

Monica Millares: So really it's about inclusivity affordability accessibility. And that's really something that's near and dear to our ethos.

It is, Maika, and it's even more so in Emerging markets, Asia, the global south, right? Where if in our markets, really, there's only sort of 2 ways for people to create. And preserve wealth, it's invest in real estate and gold and both of those assets or asset classes are not accessible, for probably more than 50, 60 percent of the population.

It's like we have not seen a major difference. We've seen progress and we've had a ton of impact, but the problem statement is there. And you could even argue that it's even growing in developing countries post COVID. So what do we need to do as an industry to have 10 times more impact in the next five years?

Lending can have a very detrimental effect, on, on, on society. And so if you, if we rethink sort of the business model, the unit economics, how do we actually I think we can get to profitability and other sort of business elements later on, but it does require a bit of a rethink.

Around business models. So those are the kind of two things. One is affordability, inclusiveness, access. And the second is what what are the unit economics and the business models that drive, FinTechs is how can you expand on that? Because if we think about the financial products behind the FinTechs, a loan, is a loan savings like they are saving, like the core business model, the.

So how do you balance that with obviously. Reengineering business models. It's a difficult one, right? But I think in our case, for example we we, believe that if you're offering financial assets that are unique, high yielding. And appeal to a broad spectrum of society that there are essentially non interest based or net interest margin types of business models.

It's not an interest margin business model. It's we obviously have an exchange. Type of a business model where you've got transactional activity. And then you can if you're offering products that aren't available, customers are actually happy to pay sort of a cost plus types of prices for those products.

Yeah. So some of those, actually the, measurements are fairly objective, right? You can even look at there's lots of studies around bank accounts, for example, and how most emerging markets the number of people that have bank accounts. I think there's a statistic out there that there's 3 4ths of the.

The adult population are either under banked or, don't have bank accounts, right? So just the sheer number of people that have, sort of money that they're able to park away whether those are users or customers or sort of bank account holders that's a very objective measure. People that are part of the overall financial system, again, Whether it's tax filings or whatever these, things can be objectively measured.

So before we go into more detail into Facet, what is your definition of a great product? Yeah, and I think it's a great question because it it's a very fundamental question, and I think the answer really is a great product in our view is a product that can be used by, anybody, right?

That are that are very easy to use, and can be used by, as I said, 98 percent of the population and not the sophisticated, 2%. Yes. So then can you go deeper into facet and it's what is the actual problem statement that you're solving? Yeah, I think I'll illustrate the problem statement with a very simple example.

So, not enabling or allowing that customer persona to have access to that simple product, which is buying Apple shares. These people are using those products, their customers why shouldn't they be stakeholders in that financial reward? So really the problem statement is how do we allow a a broader spectrum of society to create and preserve wealth?

Yes. Yeah. And I think that you raised like a great point. As you were speaking, I was like yeah, actually, whichever brand it is, like Apple, Nike, like whatever it may be, if you're a customer, You should be able to be a shareholder, right? Yes, it should be included in the pricing. Like thinking about reimagining like revenue models.

So if we can use technology in our case. It's blockchain technology Web3 infrastructure to enable that, scenario, then that's essentially what we at Fasthead are hyper focused on. Yes. And can you expand then on who are your customers? Because you just made a distinction right now, the UK, US type of customer versus your customers.

But they don't have the ability to really create, to create and more importantly preserve wealth for generations to come. So so again, it's it's and it's interesting because in a lot of our markets, the demographic is such that. Most countries do have a large proportion of the population that is young.

And why do you think, sorry, what could be their pain points? As in why, if they are young professionals making money, they are still struggling to build wealth. So that's a great question, actually. And it's one that we spent a lot of time thinking about, and the answers surprised us. In many cases it's, just, lack of knowledge so a lot of what we do is really educating people about the importance of investing, how to invest.

So so those are some of the sort of real areas of focus for us is how do we serve those people that have, the theoretical ability to perhaps create wealth, but don't know how to or aren't given the opportunity to do yeah. Can you expand on that? As in the how, what's your solution?

And so enabling people in Bangladesh, for example, to buy U. S. equities, is something that that we are squarely focused on and isn't necessarily something that, certainly to our surprise has been solved for. And there are many markets across the world where that's the case.

So allowing people across the world to have access to high quality financial assets to be able to create and preserve wealth. Those assets can take the form of U. S. stocks. They can take the form of bonds. Metals, commodities, in addition to obviously cryptocurrency. But that those are the those are the opportunities that we're focused on.

I think there's lots of questions around innovation versus invention really at the end of the day, whether we're innovative or need to be inventive is we're trying to solve we're squarely focused on solving a pain point for the customer. As long as we're solving that.

It's that technology makes sense in the environmental context in which we're operating. And ultimately, if you're focused on solving customer problems and pain points, How you solve those is almost not relevant or as relevant and and we think that the way to do so is to use blockchain infrastructure, which is interoperable, which can be scaled across.

Countries, which can allow the movement of capital across countries, which is incredibly difficult. And that's, how we think if you're focused on those areas of problem solving, then whether you're deemed to be innovative or inventive or not is, almost secondary.

We cannot just go and build an. AI product just because it has to solve a need. Absolutely. And I think there's a tendency, especially for technologists and I'll include myself. In that bracket is that we come across a piece of technology, which is transformative at its core. Super exciting.

Very interesting. And then you're essentially trying to find the problem to fit into that sort of back solve for that technology. And I think there's plenty of literature out there that Sort of Now tells you that's probably not the right way to go. And so if you're you'd ask the question earlier, I think around what do we focus on?

So, really, that's a case of using AI where it just makes a lot of sense, which is, let's say, the onboarding computer using computer vision based AI for onboarding. That's become fairly commonplace now, before even AI was invented. Was seen to be, in its hype phase.

Really, we have to think creatively about distribution and how do we target. The maximum amount of customers and facet connect essentially is our sort of B to C, sort of distribution on what I mean by that is if you go into a lot of our markets, you have, banks that are serving existing customers in some way, shape or form, even if they don't have bank account, even if people don't have bank accounts, they may go into a bank account to pay a bill.

1 of the largest telcos in the world with over 100Million customers is for us to go and try and reach those 100Million customers is, difficult or requires a lot of capital and a lot of investment and a lot of time. If we can leverage. District existing distribution channels and essentially offer white label solutions or embedded solutions.

Yes, So essentially, it's almost like three business lines, right? So it's, absolutely, it's B2C, it's B2B, and then it's B2B2C. Yes. So, absolutely. And again, the idea being. We almost are agnostic as to how the customer accesses some of these assets. We just think that it's the right thing to do to offer a wide array of financial assets to a wide array of society.

Farmers, young people, workers, students, everybody should have the opportunity at any price point, they should have the opportunity to really create and preserve wealth. Yes. And I think that leads us to, my next question that I had, that it's your customer promise. It's very exciting.

You have a very, you have a customer promise that you're, that it makes you go Ooh, it's I want that. I want that product, whatever they're selling I want that. And the promise is basically start earning like a pro investor with a suite of financial tools to maximize returns on your way to financial freedom.

It's, you've got some of those same problems we talked about in terms of cost of living in, in the developed markets as well. And so I think it's a value prop that appeals to everybody, but it's also something that we are deeply driven by, which is that if you are follow certain principles, certain investing principles, for example, certain money management principles.

Should be a, sort of should be achievable for everybody. Now, some people may get there earlier. Some people may have some tools that allow them to get there earlier. Some people may just be lucky, but you can follow systematic processes. To really, achieve that blue sky over a period of time.

Yes. And you offer multiple products as well. Like it's not just like investments. It seems like you have like a, solid business proposition as well. So your business proposition, it's basically turn digital and real world spendable utility tokens. Can you explain to us what does that mean? Yeah, it's fairly, it's a bit of a mouthful.

Let's say most people that's half of their monthly income, let's say so ability to, this is where they we talk a lot about tokenization. When you can, if you can tokenize real world assets, you can fractionalize access. And asset prices, then you essentially achieve that target, that goal of financial inclusion, affordability access.

And that there's different ways of solving that problem. In our case, we use blockchain as a horizontal technology layer. But you could use elements of AI and you could use conventional Web 2. 0. So, that's just that's just our take on this.

Product framework, and, I can give you the acronym. It's because, I don't think it will mean a lot to a lot of people. It's cMS, BC, triple O, BFS, like it's a, mouthful of an acronym. That essentially drives our product strategy and we spend. At the end of the year, an enormous amount of time flushing that out, and what it basically means is what assets are we going to bring?

How do we bring those assets onto our platform and make those assets very accessible? How can you move money in and out of digital assets in a very seamless and easy way? And then how can you, once you have access to those assets, how can you create wealth? Because there are things like staking, there are things that you can do with, for example, you may have gold, you can lend that gold out and earn a return.

It's fairly complex and, when you look at that across many markets, it becomes, even more complex. So you documented those ways of, let's say, how did you move money and then multiply times markets? Yes. Yeah. So it's literally, we have a matrix by market, and that matrix includes the number of ways that you could buy an asset, for example.

I love that because it's the, it's beyond a product methodology. Let's say. It is like the product process and the thinking framework applied specific to your business. That's on paper, not in your head, but on paper. Yeah. Sometimes it's the power of kind of visualization, right?

A lot of this is very intuitive as well. I will it's not sort of, book product management 101, it just requires a little bit of deep thinking. And when you combine smart people together in a room and think about a problem and then find solutions, you'll come up with many ways to solve a problem.

Yes. I like that approach, like not only writing the process, but almost like the ingredients, yeah, the ingredients to the solution. Yeah, everybody likes a pot roast, what goes into sort of marinating and, cooking and, is, equally important and eventually gives you the outcomes that you need.

Yeah. So, really it's onboarding is just one element of, let's say in text, value proposition. Exactly. And you touched on a key word that is execution. Yeah. Execution can be hard in terms of especially if you have like deadlines, I can't remember who said this, right?

Multi current multicurrency, multi-country, multi jurisdiction, regulatory oversight, multi regulatory oversight. So it's incredibly complex, which is why you've got to try and simplify the, complexity and how you do that it can vary, but in our case, it's really about having a very clearly articulated, thoughtful product design framework.

You have to have some framework, even if it's in your head. To be able to think logically, but just having that framework alone doesn't guarantee, success or a given outcome, which is where, as you said, execution comes into play. Really, idea generation, where you then use frameworks, coupled with high performance execution, should hopefully lead to ideal outcomes.

Yes, and then it's like the triad, right? It's like product strategy, execution, and then to get those outcomes, not because we built it and we built it great and on time, we're going to have customers, so the next one is go and get some customers and grow the business. And basically the product growth, how do you approach product growth then?

And eventually we may want to have some sort of a hybrid, we call it a global product, which has certain global sort of features, but then is obviously nuanced by, by, by country, geography, jurisdiction. So, you've got the complexity of different countries, and then you've got different go to market strategies.

Exactly. Yes, because you're right. It's like sales is different and. The 3 of them, B2B B2C, B2B2C, yes. Yeah, and we have different people that do so we've got obviously our enterprise team is from a sales perspective split out. You have, pre sales consultants and engineers that are involved in the actual selling of that product versus, B2C.

Our app, which is driven more by, let's say, conventional performance marketing. Yes. And then on that, let's say on the B2C one, do you run performance marketing just with traditional digital performance marketing, or are you using the whole product growth cycle that you have, like your hypothesis and you experiment and you try to learn and you optimize and all that stuff?

In addition to let's say digital channels, which I think only have real efficacy after a period of time, and when you establish the brand. At the same time, we're trying to build the brand and people subconsciously only, you only get their trust when they've seen that brand again and again.

Strategies, but then also doing some tactical things, which can be more near term impact oriented. Yes, because it's like you say, it's a long term game. So building brand equity is equally important than just a campaign. Especially when you're trying to get people to part with their money.

And so if you're parking your money and we say this to a lot of we say this to our audiences that definitely make sure that you're parking your money with a license regulated platform that is safe, that is secure, obviously easy to use, intuitive, but yeah, being when you're trying to get people to park with their hard earned cash that sort of brand equity yeah.

Yeah, again, I think I was listening to somebody the other day talk about one of the biggest challenges that a company faces across the board, whether it's Apple or a startup, and it definitely comes down to people and hiring the best people. And, in the case of kind of venture and startups, Monica, it's even harder, right?

You hire people with a certain conviction that they're doing the right thing. Coupled with obviously a high performance culture. I think. Startups are not for everybody and, there's definitely a certain type of a person that, that, that gets drawn to a startup, especially at a 0 to 1 sort of phase.

So, really we, we spend a lot of time thinking about hiring and how do we hire the right people and with the right, and I I come up. Actually, talk a lot about having people with the right attitude, that's really, important.

But that also has its limits when you're talking about scaling, when you start scaling you, really need to have very robust processes, policies, procedures. Within the HR, and I think that's why our people team is probably in addition of engineering and products is probably one of the most important options within the company.

So you can't have any 1 source of weakness. Everybody has to be pulling their weight. Everybody has to be. Performing at a certain level, there's got to be a roll up your sleeves hands on type of a mindset. Startups are. Very similar to sports teams. You can't have chinks in the armor because those become vulnerabilities for the entire operation.

Yes, and we cannot have high performance without certain acceptance, especially on a startup without being accepting of failure because we go fast, right? Absolutely, fail fast is what we say, right? So absolutely it requires, that's why it's startups aren't for everybody. It does require a certain attitude, aptitude, risk tolerance.

So it's definitely not one for the faint hearted. That's for sure. But, that's why, if your mission is really, if you're true to your values, if your mission is, a strong one compelling, vision backed by a compelling vision, then even in those darkest of dark days, you still plow through.

You've got to have. A high threshold for risk and pain, but you've got to keep your eye on the prize, which is what is which comes back to your mission. And what are you actually trying to do and we're very fortunate. I'm very fortunate to be working at asset because I just think the mission is so grand.

So compelling. Just so happens that it. Intersects with my background in terms of living in, sort of Asia and the developing world but having the luxury, an opportunity to also study and work in the West and then marry that up with, my personal background and let's say financial services, and then use technology because I see the power of digitization.

If you're enjoying the journey, then, the day to day just becomes a lot easier. Exactly. My very last question, and it's one of my favorite questions to ask everyone. If you were to change one thing in the industry, only one thing, that could have the most impact on customers, members of staff, and shareholders, what could that be?

There may be a hype and everybody as human beings gets influenced or swayed by that hype. But if you're really trying to solve fundamental problems. And then technology happens to be enable an enabler if everybody can just absolutely, marry the real problem statement with the actual sort of underlying technology.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Mayer. It's been an amazing conversation. Thank you so much, Monica, for having me. Really, thank you so much. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you, everyone. See you next week. Ciao