The finance sector plays a pivotal role in a county’s economy. The economic crisis that we are currently facing has impacted every business operating today. What would you say has impacted the cash flow of the finance sector, and what are the medium-term measures you’ve taken to ensure a healthy cash flow at LOLC Finance?

The finance sector has been affected the world over, and almost every country has resorted to printing money to kickstart the economy. From a country perspective, I think Sri Lanka faced numerous challenges starting from the Easter bombings in 2019 that impacted the tourism industry, which in turn impacted the financial sector. Organizations had to be provided debt moratoriums, and reliefs to ensure they continued to stay in business and on the cusp of recovery was when the pandemic spread, further hindering their operations. From an LOLC perspective, we have diversified to many industries and currently operate in over nine countries which has helped us stay ahead of our competitors, especially at a time like this. Being backed by tour parent company LOLC Finance has also greatly helped in maintaining our financial stability.

 

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You’re known as a fin-tech enthusiast who has not only founded fintech platforms like iPay and OYES but also contributed to start-ups like Pickme and ODoc. Can you share with us something that we are yet to see in SL startups?

What I think Sri Lanka is missing is creating unicorn startups that aren’t based on a “me too” concept. From a Fin-tech and technology perspective, the young generation of entrepreneurs need to look at creating unique intellectual property and not creating different versions of products that already exist in the market. This intellectual property then can be expanded into other countries creating immense value. As a country we possess immense talent and technology, what we really need to work on is creating the right business model that sets you up for success.

How is your approach to adapting technology at LOLC Finance different from a typical finance company’s approach?

Coming from both a finance and technology background, from a Group perspective we’ve seen just how beneficial technology can be to organizational success. Which is why we use a “technology first” approach when diversifying into other countries, because we believe that technology is pivotal to the survival of finance companies in the future. We witnessed even the most advanced markets being challenged by modern day technology, and we decided to adapt to it in advance. Most banking and financial institutions in the country are still reliant on manual processes and have a certain distrust towards technology, that’s where we as an organization rallied together and challenged ourselves into accepting and embracing change.

If there is an opportunity to reinvent how the finance system works (such as popular apps like SoFi, bringing speed transparency and alignment in the equation) which is optimizing the use of mobile devices with very easy and straightforward processes, how would you start?

There’s a principal that we always apply which we used even when creating iPAY which is “The First Principals of Design”. Even individuals like Elon Musk apply this principal. Where we look at a service from the perspective of a customer and what features we can incorporate to creating a system that is efficient. However, if you look at the current technology implemented across the Banking & Finance Sector, most systems are built upon existing processes that have their own set of inefficiencies which aren’t eliminated despite the use of even the best technology. With iPay we are challenging our existing banking and financial services by completing rethinking and evolving the banking function. We were one of the first to onboard clients using a digital KYC, and a large number of bank accounts were created using this digital KYC during this pandemic.

Do you see finance companies such as LOLC Finance adapting to blockchain technology and crypto currency in the future?

Adopting blockchain architecture, will definitely bring value because it’s a trustless ledger mechanism that that trust built into the technology, I believe that blockchain technology is something that as an industry we can adopt in exchanging information & use cases with regards to automation and settlement.

With the world moving towards a more digitally driven economy I think that Central Brank Driven Cryto-Currency will definitely be a great way forward to eliminate a lot of inefficiencies that arise when facilitating payments.