Episode 10

Navigating FinTech Success: Insights on solving SME's painpoints, US market expansion, product strategy and psychological safety | Marijke Koninckx, Chief Product Officer at Bankifi

My guest today is Marijke Koninckx, Chief Product Officer at Bankifi. We talk about the challenges of SMEs managing their payments flow, getting financing and managing their money, the importance of creating a safe environment to innovate and run successful FinTech's, the difference between product strategy and roadmap, and how to go about market expansion as per Bankifi’s success story.

“The question would probably be what would life and work be without purpose, right? Then it's just spending time. Everyone's looking for meaning in their life, but also in their work, because you spend a significant portion of your time working. And if you can, do something where that really aligns with the values you have”

Let’s dive into it!

👉 You can find Marijke here

👉 And you can find Monica here:

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In this episode we cover:

(0:00:00) Challenges of late payments and financial admin for small businesses

(0:08:43) Importance of creating a safe environment for diversity and inclusion

(0:11:05) Marika's journey from saying yes to taking on new roles

(0:15:01) Bankify's mission to help small businesses manage their finances

(0:18:08) Pain points of SMEs: late payments, financial admin, and financing

(0:29:41) Bankify's successful entry into the US market

(0:34:57) Challenges for Bankify: scaling, prioritization, and maintaining company culture

(0:43:42) Difference between product strategy and roadmap

(0:47:29) Bankify's open and collaborative company culture

(0:50:41) Making a positive impact and democratizing financial services

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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email fintechwithmoni@gmail.com


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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About the Podcast

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Purpose Driven FinTech
Building & Growing FinTech Products With Customer & Commercial Impact

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About your host

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Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.