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Growing up surrounded by Latino entrepreneurs, but only seeing white faces in the media, Lyanne knew it was time to tell a different story.

From business journalist to creator of the Moneda Moves Newsletter, and Program Manager at Google, it’s no surprise Lyanne was recently named one of TIME X NextAdvisor’s 25 Most Influential Voices of New Money.

Championing fintech, money and culture, Lyanne is putting Latino founders firmly on the map.

Nicole and Lyanne talk growing up in the US as an immigrant, the underrepresentation of LatAm founders, and why companies should put way more emphasis on telling their story.

And our sponsor MainStreet is making it easy to find thousands of dollars worth of R&D Tax Credits. You only need to plug MainStreet into your payroll and let their team of experts do the heavy lifting, scanning hundreds of federal, state and local tax credits on your behalf. It’s going to save you so much time and your company so much money.

Head to MainStreet.com to sign up for their limited time offer.

And if you love listening to Humans of Fintech, please leave me a 5-star review on Rate My Podcast: https://ratethispodcast.com/humansoffintech

Thank you so much!

Follow Lyanne:

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/lyannealfaro

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LyanneAlfaro

You can keep up-to-date with everything Humans of Fintech at https://workweek.com/brand/wtfintech/

And if you’ve enjoyed Humans of Fintech why not try: Chicks of FinTwit, Tech Unlocked, Breaking Banks or Fintech Insider

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

2:26 The Immigrant Small Business Model

05:30 Solving Your Own Problem

09:35 Lack of Diverse Leadership

11:55 The Writing On The Wall

13:15 The Power of Storytelling

17:15 Resilient Latino Founders

27:04 Talking With, Not To, Each Other

29:56 Embodying The Change

The Importance of Equity in Fintech

FinTech has been an exciting sector for the last few years. With its low entry bar, new fintech founders are emerging every day with innovative ideas and solutions. Although the number of FinTech companies is growing fast, we still see a lack of diversity in this sector.

Many startups are founded by men who are either engineers or investors. We see very few women founders who usually lead other people to success. Furthermore, there are very few non-white founders in this industry, especially if we compare it to other tech sectors like eCommerce or AR/VR.

This blog post explains why diversity matters and how you can create a more inclusive environment at your startup for everyone to thrive.

Why Does FinTech Lack Diversity?

There are many reasons why FinTech sector is so male-dominated. We can blame it on the education system that teaches boys to be rational, logical thinkers while girls are more enthusiastic and creative.

We can also blame it on the fact that many people think that STEM subjects are better suited for boys. Additionally, many people are convinced that it’s easier for boys to pursue a career in STEM fields.

These negative stereotypes about women and their “natural ability” in STEM fields have led to a lack of female representation in FinTech. It’s not only FinTech that lacks female representation. There are numerous industries that have a skewed gender distribution.

One of the main reasons for such a low number of women in STEM fields is that girls/women don’t see many role models.

Equity Has Tangible Business Benfits For Startups

FinTech is a very competitive industry. In order to survive and thrive, you have to offer something better than your competitors. If you want people to choose your FinTech solution over your competitors’, you have to give them a compelling reason to do it.

Indeed, a product is nothing without customers. And if your product targets a specific group of people, and you don’t have a representative share of that group in your company, then you will have a hard time convincing people to use your product.

Many customers are very conscious about who they choose to do business with. Most of them want to see themselves represented in the products or services you are providing. If they don’t see themselves among your customers, then they might choose to go somewhere else.