Martha Sazon leads the Philippines-based finance superapp GCash with a majority-female 94 million user base Chris Mendez | usagoldmines.com

Launched in 2004, GCash started as an SMSbased money-transfer service catering to the Philippines’s giant underbanked inhabitants. Customers might deposit money into their ewallets for a small transaction payment at comfort shops and pawnshops, after which use that e-cash to make purchases on their telephones. GCash’s providers have since grown and now embody credit score, remittance, and investments, and are utilized in 16 nations and territories.

GCash is owned by Mynt, a fintech startup launched in 2015 as a partnership between Globe, the Philippines’s largest telecommunications firm, and Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba. Collectively, these corporations’ stakes make up near 70% of Mynt. Ayala Corp., a Philippines conglomerate that owns Globe, has a separate stake it just lately elevated to 13%. GCash is now valued at $5 billion after Japan’s largest lender, Mitsubishi UFJ Monetary Group, acquired an 8% stake for $393 million in early August. Mynt additionally owns Fuse, a lending app.

Martha Sazon, ranked No. 38 on the Fortune Most Powerful Women Asia list this 12 months, joined Mynt as president and CEO in June 2020. GCash’s reputation soared in the course of the pandemic as Filipinos averted dealing with money. Properly over half of GCash’s customers are ladies, and nearly all are lower-or middle-income.

How do your experiences at earlier firms match collectively at GCash?

Sazon: I used to be with Globe for round 13 years earlier than I got here to GCash, however earlier than that I’ve been in numerous industries. I used to be in a neighborhood firm, Del Monte Meals, after which went to GlaxoSmithKline. My background in FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] and in telco have helped me rather a lot with my adjustment at GCash as a result of at GCash we deal with cash, so any business which includes cash is related to GCash. The telco business can be very sophisticated, in order that helped me rather a lot when it comes to the rigor of the enterprise and the way fast-moving it’s. Fintech is far quicker, although, and I believe primarily as a result of it’s a dawn business, plenty of new gamers are coming in, and rules proceed to evolve. The penetration of digitalization is rising, subsequently behaviors evolve, too.

About 57% of GCash’s consumer base are ladies, based on Globe’s knowledge. What’s GCash’s attraction for ladies?

Monetary inclusion in and by itself talks about serving the underserved, and plenty of the underserved within the Philippines are these from the decrease financial class, and rather a lot are ladies as properly. However it’s not restricted to gender; GCash can be for lower-income households and people exterior Metro Manila. It’s no coincidence a giant a part of the group is run by ladies, they usually make up 40% of the management workforce.

How has this variety helped GCash attain underserved populations?

We have now a service known as Gigs that’s a partnership with Raket.ph [an independent talent marketplace in the Philippines], which connects alternatives and job seekers within the gig economic system. That was considered by the youthful workers right here, as a result of an individual in my technology is used to the same old job employment. [Another example] is that girls who was once conventional homemakers are actually capable of earn even whereas at residence by way of e-commerce. They’ll purchase and promote by way of their very own Lazada [e-commerce] shops or Fb Market, and settle for and obtain funds by way of GCash. So what was once a bodily buying and selling exercise can now be performed even whereas taking good care of the family.

One among our analysis findings additionally discovered that whereas males are often the principle earners of a family, it’s the ladies who handle the price range and attempt to make ends meet. So if they should borrow cash as a result of the earnings of the husband aren’t sufficient, it’s the ladies who make that call, and it’s additionally ladies who allocate the cash to training, meals, and electrical energy.

Has GCash helped Filipinos working abroad, too, particularly with the rise of smartphones?

Sure, there’s now higher management of funds. One of many ache factors we’ve been listening to from abroad staff is that they attempt to save and ship a refund residence solely to search out the cash they despatched has been wasted. Now, with GCash, they get again the management; they will pay the electrical payments themselves, for instance.

What recommendation do you could have for ladies who aspire to be in management positions?

Know your self, and know what you’re good at, and know what it’s essential to work on. After which dream huge. Don’t be restricted by what you may want for and what you may dream of, as a result of every little thing begins with that. The explanation I’m going round on interviews or for talks is as a result of I need to grow to be a task mannequin for ladies. I’m attempting to normalize ladies in management positions, in order that the younger ones, after they see me, or they see ladies like me, can go, “Oh, I need to be like her.” It’s an actual factor for them, as a result of normalizing helps individuals notice goals.

This text seems within the October/November 2024 situation of Fortune with the headline “Unlocking cell banking for Filipinos.”