Name: Fintech Founders | Elizabeth Rossiello, AZA Finance
Uploaded: 2023-04-04T15:41:36.551Z
Duration: 318.12
Description: Elizabeth Rossiello, founder of AZA Finance, reveals the one person she couldn’t run AZA Finance without! As part of our series on fintech founders, we’re getting up close and personal with entrepreneurs to reflect on the things they’d do differently if they could go back in time, and their favourite things about running their own business.

FF_Elizabeth Rossielo_Interview_v3_500mb.mp4

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English

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AZA Finance buys, sells and settles

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African currencies for businesses.

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Our key customer segments are remittance

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companies, fintechs, banks and corporates

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that trade across the African continent.

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They've struggled in the past to be able

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to buy and sell African currencies easily.

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And when I mean easily, we're talking

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four to six week delays in settlement.

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So for us, we created not only

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a trading platform where you

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can buy and sell, but we also

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integrated the treasury settlement.

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And I think using multiple verticals

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in one business and combining that

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has really provided a level of

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service that still doesn't exist

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anywhere else on the continent.

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Before I moved to Nairobi in 2009, I

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worked in a global trading floor of

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one of the largest investment banks,

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and I saw that when markets crashed,

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the trading team still makes money in

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any market, and that's because there

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is always  another side to the trade.

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And when I moved down to Sub-Saharan

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Africa, I realized that a lot of

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African businesses were suffering cuz

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there wasn't another side to the trade.

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There wasn't any liquidity

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in African currencies.

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And it was making interest rates high.

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It was making financial services thin.

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And no matter what kind of microfinance

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or microcredit innovative models

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were coming, without that foreign

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currency trading, you really were

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left to trade just domestically.

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And Sub-Saharan Africa consists

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of, you know, over 50 markets and

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cross border trade is essential.

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So for, us, when we started out,

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it was really how do we trade

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with our neighboring countries?

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How do we do business across, and

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without providing easy FX in foreign

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exchange, it's almost impossible.

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So we set out, we looked for, you

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know, bringing world class trading

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infrastructure to the African continent.

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Never really done a full pivot.

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I will say we've pivoted markets and

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pivoted customer size and segment.

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And when you think about it, running an

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all Nigerian business is very different

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from running a Pan-African business.

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So, I think we've pivoted in

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which markets we've entered and

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exited, and what kind of customers.

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We had much smaller customers in the

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beginning, in the early days, and we've

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moved on to very large corporates now.

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I think the best piece of advice is

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to find and keep people who work well

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together and building a strong team is

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the best investment of time and energy.

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I would not change petitioning my board

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to be able to buy business class because

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traveling, you know, on eight to  20

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hour flights, without really providing

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rest and care for the CEO is terrible.

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And I think, you know, a lot

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of founders don't take care of

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themselves and they burn out quick.

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I would not pick a fight with a

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government as a one-year-old startup.

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That was a bad idea.

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I wish I knew sooner.

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That regulation takes a long time.

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I think it's just keeping up

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the mental and physical energy.

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I'm a very energetic person, but it is a

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lot of energy to carry, the, what we say

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in our company is to carry the good vibes

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for the whole team, and through thick and

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thin ups and downs, you have to provide

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that level of emotional comfort and also

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just, you know, focus on what's next

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and how to get through the next hurdle.

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I love working for myself, although I do

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work for my board and my shareholders.

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I think it's great, especially

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as a female, to be able to set

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the tone in the company for the

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culture that you wanna work in.

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And it is really difficult for me to

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find that culture elsewhere not just

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with equity and diversity, but also,

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you know, kindness and hard work

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don't need to be exclusive of

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each other, and I think it's been

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really great to be able, to create

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a culture that I wanted to work in.

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I could definitely not

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do this without my nanny.

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We're on a fast track to the a

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hundred million revenue mark.

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So that's our next big goal.

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More hard work and kindness.

companies, fintechs, banks and corporates

to buy and sell African currencies easily.

in our company is to carry the good vibes

for the whole team, and through thick and

Fintech Founders

Case Study

Expert Insight

Elizabeth Rossiello, founder of AZA Finance, reveals the one person she couldn’t run AZA Finance without!

As part of our series on fintech founders, we’re getting up close and personal with entrepreneurs to reflect on the things they’d do differently if they could go back in time, and their favourite things about running their own business. 

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Elizabeth Rossiello

CEO 

Explain what your company does in one sentence.

What business need is your tech solving for?

What gave you the idea for this company?

How many times have you pivoted on the original idea?

If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice when you founded this company, what would it be?