When we launched the Finance Innovation Lab Fellowship in March, we introduced the 16 innovators joining the Lab community as our 2016 Lab Fellows. We announced their names and the projects they were working on, but now it’s your chance to get to know them better.
Recently we introduced you to Neil, Olivia and Simon, you can read their interviews here. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be interviewing the rest of the Fellows participating in this unique incubation programme and share how they hope to disrupt the financial system.
Say hello to Josef Wasinski and his project Ample
I want to change what makes the world go round.
To make money mean more than what you can buy, to show the difference it can make for your own happiness and the world around you. My project, Ample, helps people to spend money better. We declutter people’s financial life and help them to be mindful about their spending – so they can focus more on what matters in life.
What do you hope to change about the finance system?
To make it more human. The finance system forces us to fit into their box, but technology allows us to make financial services that work how we think as individuals. We are all unique, care about different things, think in different ways and the finance system should reflect that.
Personally and professionally, how did you get here?
By accident! Financial services are the most boring thing in the world to me, but that’s why I enjoy it now. We are going against the grain and doing something different that nobody else is. I see myself as a designer who can code that wants to make the world a little better.
What do you need from the Lab community?
Help to improve and spread our message. Also, we have a waiting list at ample.is which would be great to have people sign up for.
If you could tell everyone in the world one thing, what would it be?
Mindfulness is one of the most powerful tools in the world.
Say hello to Freda Owusu and her project Insight Report
I lived in a block of flats as a young professional working in the City, but was refused credit when I went to buy a TV. It turned out my details had been mixed up with those of another girl in a different flat in the block, even though her name, age and details were completely different to mine.
As a trained Information Scientist, this was an information problem that needed to be solved, and I resolved to act to change this situation to prevent others having the same experience I had gone through.
What is Insight Report?
An alternative credit reference agency for people without credit histories. It also enables service providers to gain warm leads for their products and services, creating a convenient, affordable and fairer risk system. I want to show the world that being fair is also good for business!
What do you need from the Lab community?
Marketing expertise. I’m also looking for connections to third sector organisations, such as credit unions and housing associations, and links to service providers such as peer-to-peer lenders, universities and banks.
Tell us one thing no one would know about you.
I love Justin Bieber’s latest album.
Say hello to Steve Clarke and his project Bristol Prospects
I want to support local independent SMEs and level the playing field with large multi-national corporates, and bring some co-operation and trust back into the local financial network.
The Prospects Network is a ‘mutual credit circle’: a network of local companies that group together to offer each other credit. The scheme uses a digital ‘currency’ called Prospects, which ‘matures’ and can be traded for Sterling after a fixed period of time. In this way, a broad group of companies can utilise their collective economic capacity to issue credit and to increase their economic purchasing power.
What do you need from the Lab community?
Expert regulatory help and peer support.
Describe your hopes for the Lab Fellowship in one word.
Friendship.