The Green Room | Fintech Journeys in Asia Amrita Vir

In this episode, I speak with Hussain Elius, Founder and CEO of Wind, a fintech that is enabling instant cross-border payments built on blockchain rails.
Elius has been a career entrepreneur, starting with building an event management business in university. Once he graduated, Elius took an experimental approach to developing the business model that would eventually become the well known Bangladeshi SuperApp, Pathao. After 6 years building Pathao, Elius changed gears and launched a web3 fintech that enables instant and low-cost global payments.
Wind has developed self-custodial crypto wallets that completely eliminate gas fees and are accessible anywhere in the world. They have done this by building both the payment infrastructure and interoperability with mainstream on- and off-ramps. Wind is headquartered in Singapore and has payment licenses in both Europe and the UAE. They raised $3.8M at the end of 2023. You can learn more about them by visiting wind.app.

In this episode, I speak with Nuraizah Shamsul Baharin, Founder and Managing Director of MADCash, a fintech that drives financial inclusion through Shariah compliant microfinance and data analytics in Malaysia. Nuraizah, who goes by Aizah, started her career as an engineer, working for companies like Nokia and Motorola in the 1990s and 2000s.

Aizah founded MADCash in 2020 with a goal to improve financial access for women MSMEs in Malaysia. MADCash, which stands for Multiply Assist Donate Cash, works with women entrepreneurs by providing capital and financial education to grow their micro-businesses. MADCash raised a pre-series A round of $1M in 2023 led by impact investors and is using those funds to build their team, AI toolkit, and expansion into new markets like Tajikistan. You can learn more about them by visiting [getmadcash.com](https://getmadcash.com/).

In this episode, I speak with Rachel Freeman, Chief Growth Officer of Tyme, a neobank that began operations in South Africa and has recently been making waves in the Philippines as GoTyme.
Rachel has lived in every corner of the world and has been a pioneer of inclusive financial services. She speaks fluent Russian and spent her early career in Russia building a microleasing business. She then spent 17 years at the IFC, which took her to Kazakhstan, South Africa, and Hong Kong. When she decided to join the startup world, she was impressed by the Tyme team and has been instrumental in their market and product expansion in Southeast Asia.
Tyme provides a suite of digital banking solutions, including consumer savings accounts and SME loans. Across markets, the neobank is known for meeting customers where they are, through their innovative card creation kiosks in local grocery stores. Tyme also reported profitability for the first time in December and is soon expanding to Vietnam. You can learn more about them by visiting tyme.com.

Income smoothing for gig workers with Maria Hoyos of GoNSave

Pay-As-You-Sell Advance for SMEs with Ritwik Ghosh of Seedflex

Season 5 Trailer