Introducing: Accion VentureKast

We are excited to launch our podcast series, VentureKast, today!

There are so many podcasts out there, and more than a few talks about impact investing, startups, financial technology (fintech) and financial inclusion. So, why should you feel inclined to spend 30 minutes of your life tuning into VentureKast?  How did we think we could add something different to the world of podcasts?

As we engage with brilliant and passionate entrepreneurs around the globe, we are constantly inspired by their drive, creativity, and sheer audacity in building enterprises from scratch. Focusing on financial inclusion, we work closely with entrepreneurs who are providing underserved customers with better, cheaper, most appropriate financial services and products. These entrepreneurs have insightful and refreshing perspectives on specific market problems and customer pain points, and they come up with innovative business and tech ideas to solve them. Beyond all this, they have a lot of interesting experience and wisdom in their attempts to juggle personal life and responsibilities with entrepreneurial ambitions.

We want to celebrate our entrepreneurs’ journeys and let their voices be heard to inspire other aspiring entrepreneurs out there, to draw in investors and potential clients to their businesses, and to let the world know how cool financial inclusion entrepreneurship really is. We thought that a podcast series, where you can literally hear our entrepreneurs’ voices, would be a great medium to get this message out.

On VentureKast, you’ll hear about how the worlds of impact investing, startups, fintech, and financial inclusion are colliding and converging to create financial solutions that are accessible for financially excluded consumers and small businesses. You’ll also hear firsthand accounts on how seasoned bankers, college fresh graduates, military veterans and lawyers decided to take the plunge and found their own companies. The journey of these entrepreneurs toward building world-changing financial inclusion businesses is not always easy, and we ask the tough questions.  Did their families think they were crazy? Where do you even begin with when you want to build a startup? These questions – and their answers – are the reasons why you need to tune in.

Our first episode features Ranjit Punja, CEO and Co-founder of CreditMantri, a Venture Lab portfolio company based in Chennai, India, which provides online credit management services for Indian customers – mainly credit troubled or thin-file customers. Ranjit left his senior level position with Citibank in the U.S. and moved his family across the world – to India – to build up CreditMantri from scratch. He tells a story of how the CreditMantri idea came about and his vision for the company, how he found (and lured) his co-founders, and the significance of 11:11 for his team. We’re not giving away more, you’ll have to tune in.

CreditMantri and helping consumers take control of their credit health

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