To kick off Season Two of Searching for Mana - Lloyd was delighted to be joined by Anna Brailsford

Anna is the CEO of Code First: Girls and a Board Member for the Institute of Coding.

Before joining CF:G Anna was the CEO and co-founder of Founders Factory incubated EdTech startup Frisbee.

Prior to that, Anna was the Commercial Director of Lynda.com and LinkedIn. When LinkedIn acquired Lynda for $1.5 Billion in April 2015, she became part of the fourth-largest acquisition in social media history and subsequently contributed to the creation of LinkedIn Learning.

As always, please remember to like, share and subscribe to the show - it genuinely makes a huge difference!

It's the Season One Wrap Party - and to celebrate we are releasing a 'Best of' episode featuring highlights from our wonderful guests.

Including:

Nick Ogden - Clearbank/Worldpay
Julian Sawyer - Gemini/Starling Bank
Charlotte Crosswell - Innovate Finance
Husayn Kassai - Onfido
Keith Grose - Plaid
David Brear - 11:FS
Ed Vaizey - Former Tech Minister
and the musical stylings of Ray Brash and The Love Detectives

(and many more!)

Thank you once again to all of our listeners and of course our fantastic guests.

Fear not, Season Two is on the horizon - promising to be even bigger and better than ever!

Please visit us at http://www.manasearch.co.uk and continue to like, share, subscribe and if you haven't already please do leave us a review on iTunes or Spotify

This week Lloyd was joined by David Brear - founder and CEO of award-winning Fintech Consultancy 11:FS.

Having worked on both the industry and consultancy side of financial services, in early 2016 alongside some notable Fintech superstars - David founded 11:FS - determined that they would be the consultancy equivalent of so many other lauded financial disruptors.

David takes us back to his early life as a budding sportsman - hoping for a career in Basketball before a terrible knee injury meant a 'pivot' into Computing & Business.

We learn that it was whilst collecting his undergraduate degree and the honest reflection that a failure to apply himself meant an unsatisfactory result (in his eyes) and thus from that day forward, a personal determination to always be the hardest worker in the room.

Nicknamed 'The Incredible Hulk' by his colleagues - due to his dogged determination to get things over the line - this is a fascinating insight into the man behind one of the most recognisable brands in Global Fintech.

“You don’t pivot, you refine”

This week we were delighted to be joined by noted entrepreneur and inventor of e-commerce, Nick Ogden

From building the first online shop in 1994, Nick has since founded 4 businesses - Worldpay, Cashflows, Clearbank and RTGS.

Nick spoke fascinatingly about his entrepreneurial genesis on the Channel Islands and pitching his first idea to Sony executives in Japan, to founding Clearbank - who became the first clearing bank in the U.K. for 250 years.

With many multiples of industry accreditation’s and awards to his name - Nick is a true giant of global entrepreneurship

We were delighted to be joined by Peter Briffett - CEO and founder of Wagestream, the Fintech with a truly fantastic social purpose.

Recorded from his amazing ‘work from home’ shed and giving Lloyd surely the most unique opening to a show he’s had so far, Peter speaks in-depth about how Wagestream is truly helping people to manage their finances by utilising open banking to stream their wages into their bank account as they earn.

We learn of Peter’s nomad upbringing, as his parents lectured and taught across the world - his first forays into 90’s tech and how he was the CEO of a company that Bill Gates described as the best acquisition that Microsoft ever made!

Oh and he’s also part of a world record-breaking sports team…

Surely that’s enough to make you delve deeper into the latest episode of ‘Searching for Mana!’

Pssst…..Thank you to everyone who has listened, subscribed and shared our shows so far - this week we were recognised as one of the top 8 UK Fintech podcasts by the Growth Gorilla Fintech Marketing Agency global list https://growthgorilla.co.uk/best-fintech-podcasts-2020/

Please continue to like/share/subscribe and tell your friends!

We are thrilled to have with Searching for Mana our next guest Husayn Kassai, CEO and co-founder of Onfido. He is sharing with us his 8-year journey from graduation from Oxford University to building up an AI company. He also explains the concept of "immunity passports" for governments battling coronavirus. Onfido has just raised $100 million, reaching a total funding amount of $200 million.

Husayn Kassai, as a new machine age advocate, he is a believer in how technology can be used to build instant trust and power human interactions. In 2016, Husayn was named as one of Forbes’ ‘“30 Under 30”’, and as the Startups Awards’ ‘“Young Entrepreneur of the Year”’. ​Husayn sits on the Advisory Committee of the Oxford Seed Fund and the All Party Parliamentary Group on AI. He has a BA in Economics and Management from Keble​ ​College,​ ​Oxford.

Onfido helps businesses identify their users using Government IDs and facial biometrics by deploying AI to ensure that IDs are genuine, and matching the users presenting them. Onfido powers over 1,500 fintech, banking and marketplace clients globally—helping them onboard more users while reducing risk.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/04/15/british-ai-startup-onfido-secures-100m-boost-tech-immunity-passports/

"It doesn't really matter what your education is, you can make that change" - Charlotte Crosswell.

Charlotte Crosswell is the CEO of Innovate Finance - the industry body for UK Fintech.

Charlotte speaks passionately about the need for financial wellbeing education in schools, how Fintech can emerge from the current crisis and accelerate the need for digital adoption and transformation.

We learn of Charlotte's rural childhood and how that formed a ferocious work ethic which has propelled her into leadership roles, firstly at the London Stock Exchange and then as President of NASDAQ.

This week kicks off 3 weeks celebrating UK Fintech and the role it now plays given recent events - find out more here https://www.innovatefinance.com/events/

Ed Vaizey was the UK’s longest-serving Minister for Technology, working for UK Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010-16.

During his time as Minister, Vaizey oversaw a major expansion in fixed and mobile broadband coverage; helped the UK become a world leader in tech investment, working with companies such as Google and Facebook, as well as supporting the start-up ecosystem.

Ed was educated at Merton College, Oxford. After university he worked as a political researcher, before training and practising as a barrister.

A letter to the Treasury: https://blog.fundingoptions.com/covid-19/letter-to-the-treasury

In this episode, Lloyd Wahed is joined by Melanie Palmer - Chief Marketing Officer at Nucoro. The Nucoro Wealth Engine provides solutions to automate, personalize, and accelerate wealth management for businesses who want to grow and thrive in the modern world. It provides Wealth Management as a Service for B2B markets in the UK and CE, enabling large institutions serving mass-affluent clients to offer next-generation investment solutions. The company is backed by the renowned Rothschild banking family and quantitative investment manager ETS.

Melanie has spent the majority of her career in financial services, working across both corporate and startup environments. She talks about her journey from American Express to starting a career in fintech startup from zero. Now, she has extensive experience bringing startups to market having launched new products in the Wealthtech and Insurtech sectors. Melanie is recognised on Women in Finance Powerlist 2019.

Best Intentions event from the podcast:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/best-intentions-meets-taking-control-of-your-finances-tickets-94990030739

Our guest in this episode is Rory Stirling - Partner at Connect Ventures - the London based Venture Capital seed firm is a product-focused, seed stage firm investing across Europe. They are singularly focussed on investing in purpose-led founders, obsessed with solving hard problems at scale, by creating products and companies that people love.

Previous roles...

- Partner and co-founder at BGF Ventures.
- Partner at MMC Ventures.

Previous investments include...

- Software: NewVoiceMedia (acquired by Vonage plc for $350m), Triptease, Marvel, Masabi, Reevoo, Somo, Brightpearl, Base79 (acquired by Rightster plc).
- Marketplace: Appear Hear, LoveHomeSwap (acquired by Wyndham), Hubbub.
- Consumer: Gousto, AlexandAlexa (acquired by The Luxury Kids Group), Wool and the Gang (acquired by Crafts Group Holdings), Pact, Tyres on the Drive, PayasUgym.