Marching to the beat of his own drum

• “Around 50% of the world’s population don’t have sufficient access to formal credit,” shared Pierre Demarche, Co-founder & CEO of 500-backed fintech company Monnai. “This leads to an estimated financial gap of over US$8T to US$9T including emerging and developed markets. It is impacting the entire ecosystem: financial institutions, consumers and enterprises. That is why we started Monnai.”
• Leveraging international partnerships to bridge gaps between global and local markets, the Monnai team enables businesses to provide financial services to 5 billion people. Monnai’s AI technology delivers fair and transparent decisions, creating opportunities for people across the world.
• “This powers financial inclusion across markets, which is directly benefiting economic and personal growth and is core to the development of education, health, housing, and more,” Pierre added.
• Amid company growth, how does he continue to thrive and not burn out? “I don’t believe there are any standard ways to approach such a process,” he said. “Not embracing traditional biases is very important, complemented with a bit of self-confidence.”
• He added that instead of focusing on hard work, it’s important for a CEO to answer the following questions: (1) Is the company properly financed? (2) Do we have the right strategy and KPIs? (3) Do we have the right team to execute them?
• What are the 5 things he wishes someone told him before he started Monnai?
  • Start it earlier: Being an entrepreneur is a mindset. If you have it, just do it as soon as possible.
  • The journey starts long before founding the company: The experience, network, exposure, etc. developed by the founders along the years prior to starting a company highly impact the trajectory and success of the company.
  • Go big and global: Technology, businesses, markets and talents are increasingly global, leverage it and build at scale.
  • One individual can make a big impact: With the thirst for scaling a company and consequent hiring volume, one should not forget that one individual can significantly impact the outcome of an organization.
  • Co-founder trust: Having full trust in your partners under any circumstances will help solve many challenges.
• And most importantly, here’s how Pierre successfully navigates the emotional highs & lows of being a founder: “Focus on personal growth. The most successful and interesting entrepreneurs do many different things and pursue many different passions. Stay ambitious and keep growing outside of your company,” he advised.
• Read the full interview here.