Women are making a difference in Fintech

by James · March 8, 2023

On March 7, the day before International Women’s Day, asset manager Franklin Templeton hosted a webinar, A conversation with female change makers in the Fintech industry, to discuss creating a more inclusive environment.

The panel was moderated by Sandy Kaul, senior vice president, digital assets and industry advisory services at Franklin Templeton, whose team is thinking about how disruptive technologies and innovation are changing the wealth and asset management industries.

Kaul said, “I’m excited to showcase women’s voices in fintech because innovation needs multiple points of view, and getting that diversity of points of view has been a huge blessing.”

Meet the women who are creating a more inclusive environment in the world of FinTech as we celebrate #InternationalWomensDay. Sign up to hear how these panelists are doing #EmbracingEquity & strives to build a workplace where women can excel. Register now: #IWD2023 pic.twitter.com/yOTSLwDNN1

— Franklin Templeton (@FTI_Global) March 6, 2023

The panel began by discussing the definition of changemaker. Sarah Wendell Sherrill, co-founder and co-CEO of Lobus, so it embodies this concept women who bring original ideas to the table. Lotus is a technology platform to enable art ownership through tokenization with the artist as a central stakeholder which she described as transforming culture into an investable asset class.

“You think about how all the players interact, what the ecosystem looks like, what are the levers needed for transformation, and that’s where I think women are uniquely positioned to step into this space,” she added.

Sarah Wendell Sherrill, Lobus

Wendell Sherrill started her career at Christie’s auction house in August 2008, just before the financial crisis, where she met Lori Hotz, her co-founder and co-CEO of Lobus.

“She had a career in asset management and finance before Christie’s, so we have this incredible relationship where I learn from her every day,” she said. “Being an entrepreneur side-by-side with someone who you deeply respect and see the space in a similar way is an incredibly rewarding experience, and I think that’s what change-making looks like.”

Swati Chaturvedi, co-founder and CEO of Propel(x), said changemakers should change the world for a better result.

“There is inequality in wealth and the richest people have access to different types of investments, which makes their wealth grow faster,” she added. “We are here to democratize access to wealth and reduce this inequality.

Propel(x) is an alternative investment platform that opens up investment in startups and hedge funds to regular accredited investors worldwide, asset classes that previously had limited access points.

Taking risks

Margaret King, vice president, fintech partnerships and venture capital at Franklin Templeton, said entrepreneurs create change by pioneering new ideas, and taking risks by thinking about entire ecosystems and industries very differently. King leads the incubator program that looks for disruptive technologies to accelerate Franklin Templeton’s business, particularly in asset management.

“Our incubator program takes on some of those risks in one calculated way to help drive growth in a different direction,” she added.

Margaret King, Franklin Templeton

King said she learned to take risks by working on a number of startups, including some that failed, which was a great way to learn about her strengths and where she needed to improve. She added: ‘The challenges I faced early in my career taught me about good leadership styles and empathy.’.

She continued that it is very important to never stop learning, always be flexible and to listen.

“Active listening is really important because sometimes when you get a little too confident, your voice tends to overshadow others and you’re not really listening to whoever’s talking to you,” King added.

Chaturvedi grew up in India and moved to USA on his own for his doctoral studies. Since she had little money, she had to take on many jobs which she said taught her to be resourceful and to survive. She then moved into venture capital and completed her MBA, which made her comfortable with the idea of startups taking risks.

She describes herself as passionate about finance and science and technology and finding companies that have the potential to become the next Tesla. Propel(x) was launched as a way to connect tech startups with investors and has over time expanded to become a platform to connect issuers with investors.

“I was fortunate enough to succeed in some small ways, which led to greater confidence,” added Chaturvedi. “Connecting something new is the most important thing I’ve done. You have to try and if you don’t succeed, you will learn something.”

Wendell Sherrill said the biggest lesson the founders of Lobus have learned is to follow their own rule book. Christie’s was a 250-year-old company making billions in sales, but they still saw enormous room to transform and bring new sources of capital into the art world.

“We had deep financial expertise, deep subject matter expertise and knew how luxury markets worked, but we weren’t product technologists,” she added. “We learned very early on to play by our own rules.”

Kaul added that one of her biggest lessons is that the more senior you get, the more you draw on your network to fuel success. She said, “People underestimate how many opportunities come to you through your network.”

Swati Chaturvedi, Propel(x)

Chaturvedi agreed, saying her MBA helped build her network and open doors. She also shared that it is very important to become comfortable with being in the public eye and building your brand, including on social media.

“To be honest, I’m a very private person, but I took every opportunity I had to meet people,” she added, “I love talking to people one-on-one, but I’m not the kind of person who works with rooms. But every time I went to an event, I came back with a very valuable connection.”

Wendell Sherrill said that one thing that really stands out about a network is the tendency to always say yes to an opportunity at the expense of her schedule, so this has to be balanced. She added; “But 99% of the time it comes back to me in a way that I would never expect.”

Other things that are important are confidentiality and using her relationships to build relationships for others.

Female founders only receive about 2% of total venture capital funding, and the panel said the power of connecting different networks will open up more opportunities. King said a key aspect of her role is helping to build a network at Franklin Templeton, as well as the opportunity for female founders to distribute and take a product to market.

“For example, I can introduce them to investors for women who are in consumer tech or another fintech vertical,” she added. “You can have access to a network, but there also has to be that effort to build the relationship, which takes time.”

Advice for their younger selves

King continued that her advice to her younger self would be to not be afraid to be more authentic and take a little more risk.

Chaturvedi told herself to follow her passion and not be afraid.

Wendell Sherrill continued that the female tendency is to bring people along and build consensus, which can turn into people’s joy.

Sandy Kaul, Franklin Templeton

“Starting something new and changing the status quo is diametrically opposed to those qualities in some ways,” she added. “So my advice is to really trust your instincts.”

Kaul’s advice would be to keep your eyes open as opportunities come from very unexpected quarters at unexpected times.

“Some of the best opportunities in my career have come when I wasn’t looking for them,” she said. “On one occasion someone had to tell me three times that they were trying to offer me something before I realized where these calls were coming from.”