Weekly review (2019–09–29): India→Japan→India

… and will go back to India again in 3 days. I need to think about business trip planning.

Review

I spent one entire day for thinking about technology application of our business. Many fintech players in developing nations do tech just for the tech itself — no clients’ perspective. The reality is that (1) only 10% of typical MF customers use smartphones, (2) 20% are illiterate, and (3) 20–40% are not connected to the internet. The tech application should be practical and impactful. However, a rapid shift from feature phone to smartphone may happen within a few years. The increasing number of shops don’t sell feature phones anymore.

We had a Gojo team meeting in Delhi. I always love to have this team meeting. We work separately and don’t meet up that often. Once we meet up in a place, I feel that I am surrounded by the best colleagues. So happy to work with every single one of them. We discussed quite intensively and came up with around a dozen of actions. Some are a bit radical. Let’s see.

Then moved to Ahmedabad to attend the board meeting of Ananya. Ananya’s board is the most organized among all the board meetings I have attended. If there’s one thing that we may be able to improve, that would be time management. The board is too vocal to agree on each agenda within the scheduled time. Some transition was also announced. I wish it turns out to be a good change in the end.

Came back to Delhi, and then Tokyo to greet young professionals from Taiwan. My friend is running this organization, and they come to Japan from time to time. It’s nice to see that some foreign professionals still see value in visiting the country. I sometimes wonder what kind of things in Japan can really inspire professionals, except for food and some wacky things.

Today marks the second anniversary of my grandmother’s death — time flies. I need to complete the autobiography of her. Though she couldn’t even speak in the last several years, she was the center of our entire family. Now we’ll have to re-build this family tie.

New Year Resolution Progress

Started to learn Hindhi by using an app. However, this app begins with memorizing texts (which is, to be honest, boring). I’m thinking of a new app which starts with colloquial Hindi. One good way is to master a few nice songs, maybe.

Also, I think I need to spend more time on tech initiatives, i.e., reading more and meeting more people.

Books review

Fintech in a Flash
A good summary of Fintech landscape. The list of major fintech startups is helpful. Some of them (the book was published 2 years ago) are already facing trouble, and that tells me that impressing investors is one thing and making the business sustainable is completely another.

Other thought

After spending a few more days, will fly back to India to attend a WEF event in the country. I am looking forward to meeting fellow YGLs and some interesting people from around the world.

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Founder & CEO, Gojo & Company, Inc.

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