An Interview with Paolo Fidanza, MO Technologies CEO and Co-founder: ‘We Do Not Want to Educate Our Customers to Understand Our Technologies, Although We Want to Educate Our Technologies to Understand Our Customers’

“Our revolutionary technology has created an end-to-end solution that allows us to transform the lives of people who are financially underserved.”

It had to happen. Artificial intelligence is shaking up the fintech world.

The opportunity to get an in-depth analysis of client’s creditworthiness, have fast credit decisions, and score thin-file people makes AI a goldmine for many lenders today.

In view of the above mentioned scenario, we’re thrilled to present MO Technologies.

The company has developed an innovative patent-pending proprietary credit scoring technology and loan management platform which uses Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to implement credit products for consumers and merchants without a formal credit history.

MO Technologies was incorporated 2016 and is headquartered in Miami, USA, and Bogota, Colombia.

Paolo Fidanza, MO Technologies CEO/Co-founder, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

I am a passionate entrepreneur with vast experience in the technology, internet and mobile sectors. With Veronica, a strategic consultant focused on tech, telecom and financial companies, had the dream to provide people without a formal credit history access to small loans.

More than 3 billion people worldwide do not have access to formal loans; however, they have access to technology and all-time connectivity. Thus, combining our expertise with the market opportunity, created MO Technologies in 2016. The company started operations initially in Colombia, and then expanded to other markets in Latin America and the US with the objective to continue facilitating financial inclusion.

What challenges did you face in your initial years?

The biggest challenge during the start-up phase of a company is always access to capital and to skilled resources. Luckily for me, I had a history of creating successful technology companies that helped me in accessing capital within my own network of relationships and being able to call on people who I had worked with before.

How do you stay relevant to the consumer interests and needs in this highly volatile market?

In our case, we have opened a new market for 70percent of the people in the world who are financially excluded or underserved. We operate in a blue ocean where we are creating a special bond with our customers, trusting them with credit where financial institutions never did. We listen and work with our clients in all the markets we operate to make sure we keep adapting our products to customers’ behaviors.

Moreover, our revolutionary technology has created an end-to-end solution that allows us to transform the lives of people who are financially underserved.

Thanks to our product range integrated by credit technologies, credit issuing, payment services and consulting, our business partners, financial institutions, service companies and other FinTechs, can offer new credit products to consumers and merchants with no access to traditional credit.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

• People– We have been able to recruit and retain some of the best technical talent in Latin America.
• Culture– We foster and promote innovation and initiative.
• Structure– We run a centralized structure that makes us very efficient.
• Cloud– Without the cloud, we would not be in business.
• Purpose– We have a passion for what we do and for helping the three billion people in the world who are financially excluded; this gives us a purpose that goes beyond making money and a feel-good factor that is probably our biggest asset.

How does your company contribute to the global IT platform?

Our mission is to promote financial inclusion by offering everyone the possibility to access a small loan. We aim at revolutionizing the credit scoring industry by eliminating the discrimination due to lack of credit history giving everyone the possibility to access nano and microloans in a simple and effective way.

Do you have any new products ready to be launched?

Yes, we recently announced our partnership with i2c as our processor for instant card-based loans. This will truly be a small revolution that will help a long way in including many people financially.

Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

We see MO working with many Financial Institutions and Fintechs in South, Central and North America, Africa and Europe, and giving access to small credit to millions of customers and merchants. We also see many of these credits to be delivered instantly on pre-paid and debit cards, therefore truly including financially these people.

Leadership | MO Tecnologias

Paolo Fidanza, CEO/Co-founder: Paolo Fidanza is a tech entrepreneur, passionate about making the world a better place. For the past 15 years, Mr. Fidanza has created innovative online and mobile platforms.

Veronica Crisafulli, COO/Co-founder: Veronica Crisafulli has been a strategy consultant for more than 10 years in renowned companies focused on TMT and financial services.

“We listen and work with our clients in all the markets we operate to make sure we keep adapting our products to customers’ behaviors.”