00:11My name is Maria Medvedeva. I'm a managing director Middle East for Skyro. It's a global
00:17Vintech which comes from Southeast Asia with around 7 million people and 200 million dollar
00:22platform. Now I have been in payments for my entire career. Payments and credit. The
00:32payments is quite simple. It's providing people access to the wallets but is the
00:36financial inclusion really providing access to the people? Financial inclusion
00:41is about building the credit and not just providing one-time solution but
00:46building the credit so that the person builds up capital and helps the
00:52economy to grow. So, to me, the financial inclusion is about building up the
00:58individuals to support and grow the economy.
01:05Skyro has been focusing on empowering individuals as well as businesses within
01:13Southeast Asian markets but we have decided to expand and to learn on best
01:19practices and deploy it locally. One of the major aspects of why I believe Skyro is
01:25is the right approach to Middle East is the fact that Skyro has empowers businesses,
01:31finances their capital, finances their machinery and then gives cash loans to grow.
01:42Today was a brilliant speech by the governor of Central Bank where he shared that we almost have
01:47371 fintechs that entered the market. That's an exciting, exciting time for Saudi but we have to
01:55understand who is whether the credit of the consumer makes him eligible for the
02:02financial inclusion, for making the wealth, for building the wealth. The
02:06financial inclusion is equal to building the wealth in the society. Now sometimes we
02:12confuse a bad person with a bad credit and the bad actor it's very important to
02:18understand the difference. When an individual like a student or a gig worker or a taxi
02:24driver does not have a stable consistent cash flow to help him building his credit
02:30history that impacts the society. We are not able as a traditional banking to give
02:36them loans but the fintechs they utilize different signals of a consumer. The
02:42signals may include utility bills, the signals may include the bad statements for
02:47the businesses. When you have alternative data sources you're able to score a consumer,
02:53give him the credit and also help him again to move forward in the economy.
03:03Given the ability for consumers to have access and for the businesses to have
03:10access to the alternative type of financing and bringing the foreign direct
03:14investment into Saudi Arabia through the companies, through the financial
03:18companies like ourselves, allows the economy to utilize the foreign funding in
03:24building their own GDP and building of the wealth. So financial inclusion is nothing
03:29more about the society becoming wealthier and individuals building their
03:35capital and achieving something more. I can share with you that in different
03:39countries, for example in Kenya, in Philippines, I have seen companies and I have
03:45seen actually businesses that take this financial inclusion and create
03:50solutions which are relevant to countries.
03:56I think that this Kairos position in life is being fluid around your life and
04:02providing you solutions that actually fits your lifestyle.
