The woman behind Women Colombia Fintech

In recent years, Latin America has been an example of female inclusion within the fintech sector thanks to the appearance of different leaders who have taken these emerging companies to another level. This fact became something very significant, since the role of women also helps to improve the rates of financial inclusion in the region.

In this sense, the results of the latest survey carried out by the IDB and Finnovista showed how they are increasingly a key player after the average of fintech initiatives that have a woman in the founding team went from 35% in 2018. to 40% in 2020. Likewise, within the report Colombia is highlighted, with the highest percentage of female founders, with 42%, followed by Argentina (35%), Brazil (30%), Mexico (29%) and Chile (21%).

In the midst of this panorama, Madeleine Clavijo has become a relevant icon in the Latin American fintech sector due to her innovative ideas and her constant work to achieve female inclusion, a path that led her to become the leader behind the proposal of “Women Colombia Fintech”, the new vertical of Colombia Fintech, a proposal whose purpose is to promote greater gender equality within the ecosystem of these startups.

Clavijo graduated from the Catholic University of Colombia in industrial engineering, has a postgraduate degree in marketing from the Externado University of Colombia and a master’s degree in electronic commerce and digital marketing from the University of La Rioja, Spain. Throughout her history, she has stood out for a trajectory of more than 15 years of experience in the payment industry, where she has held different positions in financial entities such as Diners, British Petroleum Company and Effecty, where she became commercial vice president This journey ultimately led her to be the co-founder and CRO of the unicorn Kushki and the president of the Board of Directors of Colombia Fintech.

“Women Colombia Fintech will be a space to achieve a positive impact on gender equality in the ecosystem and it is a gateway for more women to join together to work and give greater relevance to our common causes”assured the board.

It should be noted that the launch of this new vertical will be on March 16 at the JW Marriott hotel in Bogotá, with a large Forum, in which the participation of more than 200 women leaders is expected and where panelists of the stature of Hanoi Morillo (Investor and shark of the Shark Tank Colombia program), Manuela Sánchez (co-founder and CGO of Laika), Daniela Izquierdo (Co-founder of Foodology), Angela Acosta (Founder and CEO of Morado), Carolina García (Co-founder and CRO of Chiper) , among other.

This new vertical will seek to promote academic spaces, work tables, networking, job offers, webinars, publications and of course more events that seek to increase the presence of the female gender in the fintech world.

“With Colombia Fintech we are working on the construction of public policies that, precisely, will be born in these spaces and that will undoubtedly be essential to raise and strengthen the presence of leaders in Fintech, but it will also be an opportunity to face the challenges facing the gaps in the adoption and use of financial services for women”Clavijo added.

And the truth is that despite the fact that women play a central role in the region’s economy and the efforts of governments and companies in the financial sector seek to improve financial inclusion, great challenges still persist, which only fintechs led by women could overcome.

According to a report prepared by the Development Bank of Latin America, only 49% of women have a bank account, 11% save and 10% have credit, values ​​that for men represent 54%, 16% and 13% respectively. Therefore, these new spaces within the fintech sector are an opportunity to open the paths that will close gender gaps in the future.