Asia Tech Podcast

EP 180 - William Li - CEO of Akulaku - They're Punished Because They're Poor

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The Asia Tech Podcast hosted William Li, the CEO of Akulaku, which recently announced a $100MM investment from Thailand's Siam Commercial Bank.  Akulaku is a digital finance platform that includes credit and e-commerce, wealth management, and digital banking (via Bank Neo Commerce).

Some of the topics that William covered:

  • The founding of Akulaku as an outgrowth of a remittance business in Hong Kong
  • Built the remittance business for the overseas workers of the Philippines, Indonesia, and Bangladesh
  • Training as a lawyer
  • Getting a Master's Degree at Washington and Lee
  • Getting exposure to many businesses as part of the investment team at Ping An
  • Entrepreneurship was not a natural path
  • The vision of Akulaku and how it evolved
  • The realization that affordable and accessible financial services can help a lot of people
  • Pivoting from a remittance business to a lending business when they had very little cash left
  • Acquiring a bank in Indonesia and completely restructuring it
  • Lebron James or Steph Curry as a model for business

    • Other titles we considered for this episode:

    1. It's Really a Giant Leap
    2. Go Deep Also Means Go Big
    3. People Who Believe In Data and Machine Learning Finally Win
      4. ...more
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      Asia Tech PodcastBy Michael Waitze Media