The Entrepreneurs Bringing Financial Empowerment to Women
FemWealth Issue #30
[Updated on 08.03.2022]
Happy Sunday, FemWealth Friends!
Women worldwide have been long excluded and underserved by traditional financial institutions and even fintech companies. A new generation of women entrepreneurs is challenging the status quo, launching products created specifically with women’s needs in mind.
Halima Iqbal and Farwah Tapal are two of them. They started Oraan in 2018 to help women access financial services in their native country Pakistan. In a country where only 7% of women are financially included (i.e., they have a bank account), Oraan is innovating a financial service known as ROSCAs (rotating credit and savings associations or committees of people who contribute money to a pool that is distributed to a member each month).
“There was an opportunity, how can we understand the saving space and informal economy in Pakistan, and where can we capture that?”
Oraan has raised $4M in funding from VC firms Zayn Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Resolution Ventures, i2i Ventures, Hustle Fund, Haitou Global, and Plug and Play, and angels like Claire Diaz-Ortiz, making Iqbal and Tapal the first women entrepreneurs in Pakistan’s fintech space to raise a seed round.
“We want to become a full-fledged neobank and very heavily based on community because that’s where we see that women want a sense of belonging. When it comes to financial transactions, that’s one of the things they feel they lack, that sense of belonging.”
Oraan is planning to expand into more financial services, including savings, credit, insurance, educational financing, and investment products.
Here are more female-founded and led companies that bring financial inclusion and empowerment to women:
HerVest [Nigeria-based] founded by Solape Akinpelu, wants to address the gender gap in Africa by giving access to savings, impact investment, and credit to women, regardless of who they are and where they live
“I could see women living the reality around me. These women could not make sound financial decisions. Some of these women that do not even know that they could do better with their money.”
Shecluded [Nigeria-based] founded by Ifeoma Uddoh, is a financial inclusion & growth company for women in Africa
Jefa [US-based] founded by Emma Sánchez Andrade Smith, is a digital bank for women that offers access to savings accounts, loans, insurance, easy payments, debit and credit cards.
Sequin [US-based] founded by Vrinda Gupta, helps women get qualified for credit by offering them a debit card that builds credit [Read more]
“There are too many hidden costs to being a woman, and credit shouldn’t be one of them.”
Ellevest [US-based] founded by Sallie Krawcheck, provides an engaging investing and professional development experience to help women meet their financial goals in life
Your Juno [UK-based] co-founded by Margot De Broglie and Alexia de Broglie, provides personal finance education for women and non-binary people
fin:marie [Germany-based] founded by Karolina Decker, Leitha Matz, and Rica Klitzke, is Europe's first financial platform for women, by women
Female Invest [Denmark-based] founded by Anna-Sophie Hartvigsen, Camilla Cloëtta Falkenberg, and Emma Due Bitz, is an e-learning platform on a mission to close the financial gender gap, by educating women about finance
Untangle Money [Canada-based] co-founded by Kristine Beese and Ria Savla, is a financial services company on a mission to help women feel confident and savvy about how they manage their money now and for their future.
Odo Works [US-based] co-founded by Shauna Armitage, brings decision-free, loss-protected investing to the masses in a simple social app that encourages participation without stress or FOMO.
Do you know other innovative companies in this space? Drop them in the comments section.
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Thank you for reading FemWealth!
Wish you an exciting week ahead,
Anamaria
Founder & Writer at FemWealth
Untangle Money (Canada): curated financial planning for women, helping them understand their Now Money and their Future Money and how the two are related. Making sure what you're doing today will get you to where you want to go. https://www.untangle.money