Reflections on ChildFinance

Just in case one more person thinks I was kidnapped by some Amsterdam gremlins, I thought I’d better break the radio silence. It’s been a hectic time ever since I returned from the International ChildFinance Expert’s Meeting in Netherlands. Four days of good energy and learning, where the magic is truly in the people.

My respects for Jeroo and the folks at Aflatoun. What a feat of bringing together the accelerators with convening powers, the mavens of academics, the practitioners of financial education with immese ground experience and just about everyone who has done relevant work in this space. There’s a new exciting movement that is brewing to chart the way forward for financial education and access for children – at the age where habits start forming (from the researchers), and at the time when the marginal rate of investment is the greatest (from the policymakers).

Some quick lingering thoughts -

In some circles, the term financial literacy has become as taboo as entrepreneurship or web 2.0. The new focus is now on financial capability, with the ultimate goal of behavior change, as the result of having received a financial education. Yet, measuring behavior and action (what does it look like?) or involvement in existing financial systems (or a lack of involvement?) may not serve as good indicators of financial capability, especially in less-developed countries. The smartest of the poor deliberately exclude themselves from traditional financial institutions, rejecting savings instruments that offer 6% when inflation is standing at 16%. In fact, there were fascinating insights into what money management looks like in the poorest communities in the world. Recommended reading: Portfolios of the Poor.

Another exciting theme surrounds financial access, and the debate in creating child-friendly banking products with possible certification, ensuring appropriate safety and quality levels bounded by an ethical framework. Talks of easing in control gradually until kids turn 14, removing transaction fees and a minimum balance. No surprise that the bankers were demanding a business case, mirroring the rather tragic move when UK scrapped their Child Trust Funds just a few weeks ago, which I thought was a brilliant scheme when first introduced.

There was a clear dichotomy in the problems faced in the developing vs. developed worlds. At the lower levels of poverty, asset building is non-monetary as people invest in cattle, jewelry or relationships that may offer a better return. Was surprised to learn of the 90% savings rate in one case study, where survival literally depends on the ability to save up meager, irregular and unpredictable incomes – you don’t need to teach them how to save. I made a case that unlike the developed world, entrepreneurship in this instance is no longer a choice, and resonated immensely with the Teach a Man to Fish initiative in Paraguay – a rural education where students learn earned income strategies and graduate with a business. Ironically we have savings problems in developed countries, where you find complete financial inclusion but amateur knowledge on getting involved. It led me to scribble down this framework, revealing the importance of timing and matching financial education, capability and access. An important question raised in the academic track to ponder as well – Are we to claim that money is the equitable currency across the board?

On a side note, (this was not on the agenda but arose out of private discussions). I’ve always resonated with Mohd Yunus’ principles and the microfinance model, but have become a little apprehensive of how it’s evolved. Some MFIs are now a monolithic corporate structure, with funding from commercial banks and private equity firms, set in deregulated environments charging anywhere from 30%-85% interest, with a high repayment rate. This makes for a reliable super-profit machine with returns of over 50% and naturally attracts an overabundance of capital. Disbursement pressure skews responsible action and loan placements. Why does this already sound familiar? Even if we ignore the business case and revisit first principles, shouldn’t we advocate putting savings into business capital instead of just taking out a loan? It’s a myth that most of the poor cannot save.. transferring the control of money to the women sometimes works wonders.

And so I left with even more questions than before, but am ever so excited to get involved in these discussions going forward and hope to shape a product that could fundamentally solve the problem. At the heart, we all believe in the empowerment of children and to treat them as part of the solution. There’s always a fine balance between over-strategizing, and gaining momentum with madly passionate folks who have the gut-level indignation of the status quo. And I guess it’s only fitting to end off with Audrey‘s famous quote of the meeting – Let’s not forget to just let the kids have fun.

How one man is quietly writing the history of professional cycling

This is Nick’s dream.

He is training the first black team to win the Tour de France – the third largest sporting event in the world, but with no African presence all these years because equipment and training are too costly. He fell in love with professional cycling as a young boy, and tells me that people are slowly losing respect for the sport with all the recent doping cases. And like in Golf, Tennis, and the American President candidature, there is no better time to give the sport his opinion, a shakeup and simply some perspective.

It started 4 years ago, visiting Eldoret, the heart of where all the marathon winners are born. They have the physique, the mindset, and the hunger to win. He finds these talents in the rural villages in Kenya, and gives them bicycles to train.

I could listen to his anecdotes forever. We discussed the inflection points of leadership – and his came during the civil war. His team was literally seeking to kill each other as they pledged allegiances to their own tribes, and he flew back in the midst of crisis to unite them together. He described how one of his training sessions was disrupted when one of his athletes received an urgent call, pulled out his machete and ran all the way back to his fields because a robber was stealing his sheep. And jokes about how he worries every time his athletes leave camp to go back to their wives because nine months later, they might be having a baby and drop out. I begged him to tell me he was recording all these moments which was probably an unnecessary question, of course, there’s the movie that’s on it’s way.

So now you have a Singaporean who’s writing the history of competitive cycling.. getting the media attention in America and Europe, but we hear nothing of this in our own country. Why? Because it is not yet a success story, and I’m quite sure this will change the moment they hit Tour de France. If I were running a newspaper that was honestly concerned about my community, this is exactly the kind of story, at this stage of an endeavor that I know they need the most support, not when it’s all over.

I met Nick through another young entrepreneur, both with very international backgrounds which explains their trail blazing attitude. It’s a common story when you put such folks together with a mission that’s larger-than-life. You automatically hear the accompanying war stories of trying to garner support in our home country, as much as we’d like to align ourselves and give back. We concluded that Singapore is great for playing to be good, but we never play to win. Is this really cultural?

I haven’t lost all hope though, and it is up to our generation to change this.

There’s a fund for that!

If you are a young entrepreneur brimming with startup ideas,
There’s a fund for that.

If your idea happens to fall within a sexy new industry too vague to be defined,
There’s a fund for that.

If you just raised a round of funding and need to double down,
There’s a fund for that.

Heck, if you’re thinking of sending your young rockstar manager to a graduate business school? There’s even a fund for that!

Yep, there’s just about a fund for anything.

Did our government learn from Apple’s business-model-for-dummies and apply it to our funding ecosystem?

If you haven’t seen the clip that’s making waves on the internet -

Only in Singapore’s startup scene. And I’m not complaining, god help laymen like us!

See the 168 government schemes here.

Finding X – How I discovered what to do with my life

I believe that everyone has their special place in society – a position in which they can easily outperform everyone else with much ease. It’s where you experience the most flow, tackle real challenges with confidence, appreciate immense learning and growth, and ultimately live a life of purpose and fulfillment.

Imagine if you could combine your passions, with your strengths, to solve real problems every minute of the day. It’s the reason why some people find the adrenaline that keeps them awake for nights on end, that when they sleep they just can’t wait to wake up again. These people have found X.

I’ve been pretty lucky to encounter such people in my life. You can see it in their eyes and feel it radiating from their soul, even though they might be introverts. There’s something about this spirit that can only be caught and never be taught. After a while, that energy empowers you with the confidence to start questioning and take your own leap of faith.

1. Start by knowing thyself
So much is being written about finding your passion or even discovering your life’s purpose. Brilliant. Well and good for those with easily identifiable passions, but I’ve always had trouble with this one. At one point, it even felt like I was screwed because I didn’t know what my one big hairy audacious mission in life was!

And then I realized that it was perfectly okay. The reality is that society often defines you by what you are based on your resumes, results, and which institution you most recently sold your soul to, that people have lost who they really are. By being grounded in your values and getting back in touch with your soul, you go a long way by letting the fabric of your character guide the most important decisions. Randy Komisar does a brilliant job putting this into an action plan:

2. Flex your strengths

In the most Asian way, I grew up being told always to fix my weaknesses. It now seems so obvious on hindsight – why not be a lot more of who you already are, than trying to correct for something that you are not? Just spending an hour each day devoted to honing a skill could go a long way, what more if you could flex your strengths for most parts of the day?

Thanks to scholarship interviews and business school, I’ve taken truckloads of personality tests that gave me a good (though highly general) understanding of myself. For those who are interested, I found the Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential (MAPP) pretty comprehensive, although I know many who swear by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and the 16PF Test.

But what I personally found most useful was StrengthsFinder by Tom Rath, so aptly named, which I now use with anyone we get on board our team. The 34 strength classifications make a lot of sense, mined from data and research. And I love the action ideas on how you can work your strengths and help others with theirs. And no, I’m not making any commission on this.. but what a brilliant business model to boot – one code per book in which the value of the test results are enhanced as more people around you take the test!

3. Find out what the world needs

This is the part that ensures your lifestyle is sustainable, that you are contributing value to something the world really needs. If you get this part right, I guarantee you won’t have to starve on the streets to do what you love, or pump billions of dollars into marketing a product (*cough* coke *cough* USD3bn) that there is no real need for, to try and create your own demand.

Then again, this is almost the easiest part of the whole puzzle to me, because there are so many darn problems we haven’t found solutions for. The larger problematic themes still remain, around poverty, education, human rights, diseases, global warming and the litany goes on.. but what excites me the most is the rise of technologies that present us with new opportunities for solutions. If saving the world isn’t your cup of tea, try focusing on inefficiencies within the an industry you know, or even personal frustrations in which you are victim of circumstance. Chances are, you’ll be doing someone a big favor by figuring out a better solution!

All said and done, finding X is a constant work in progress and will evolve with the different stages and priorities in life. It’s something I’m still figuring out every single day. Then again, you know you’ve come close enough when you wouldn’t trade what you’re doing for anything else in the world :)