ByJose Galindo, Workplace Financial Health Program Director, Financial Health Network
我知道第一个hand — as the founder and former CEO of moneymio.com, the first bilingual online platform dedicated to empowering Latinos in the United States with personal finance education — the challenge young fintech companies face, especially those who are focused on improving the financial health of Low-to-Medium Income (LMI) minorities in the United States. That’s why I’m thrilled to be leading the Fifth Financial Solutions Lab Challenge focused on workplace financial health. It’s a mission I’m personally invested in, and I’m thrilled to announce that this Challenge is now live and we are acceptingapplications. Over the last four years, the FinLab has helped more than 30 diverse startups grow and scale their businesses to support the financial health of millions of struggling Americans. Additionally, it has helped to elevate and support fintechs focused on improving consumer financial health, by providing equity, networking and expertise to founders, in collaboration with our founding partner JPMorgan Chase and Co.
Why focus on Workplace Wellness?
We know that many American workers are struggling, from managing monthly expenses to paying down debt, saving for emergencies and retirement. Currently, many employers don’t have solutions beyond traditional 401K plans. By focusing the FinLab’s fifth cohort Challenge on this industry problem, we’re helping fintechs address this need to build innovative solutions while also deepening knowledge and learning more about the impact these solutions can bring to the market, and help both employers and employees plan for the short and long term.
So how does an accelerator like the FinLab work in practice?
Here is what we are looking for in our fifth cohort — the upcoming Workplace Financial Health Challenge:
- We are looking for the most compelling, innovative and effective fintechs designing solutions that can be distributed through the employer channel to reach LMI workers.
- After a selection process evaluating the companies on factors such as impact on underserved populations, how their products solve the targeted problem, scalability and business model viability, 4–6 cohort members will be selected.
- These members will receive $125,000 in capital, opportunities to network with industry leaders, the chance to connect with potential customers, and participate in several in-person meetings where cohort members engage with leading resource partners and each other to help refine their business plan and potentially form key partnerships. These meetings will take place from January 2019 — May 2019.
- During the program, cohort members will also undergo a proof of concept evaluation aimed to identify the effect their service has on employee’s financial health (and by extension an employer’s bottom line). This evaluation will help develop and refine the business case for employers, and provide confidence that these solutions work and can help improve the financial lives of employees. We believe this will not only help the members in our cohort but the industry as a whole become more accepted in the marketplace.
的领导工作的挑战,我的角色will be to support the new cohort teams to grow and create positive impact that can be scaled for employees across different industries, geographies and income levels. If you are a workplace wellness fintech founder — or know of one in this space — please feel free to reach out! I’m eager to speak with you.
And don’t forget toapplyto this Challenge by November 9th!
Interested in getting in touch with Jose? Email him atjgalindo@www.hagiluck.com.
By Financial Health Network on October 23, 2018.