Fintech, Sun & Naked Yoga!

Ain't life full of surprises! On 18 & 19 June 2019, I had the pleasure of attending Copenhagen Fintech. First time in the Danish capital. What I noticed the most is just how clean the city is. I guess that's why the Danes don't complain about the high cost of living!

Thomas Krogh Jensen and his whole team really outdid themselves with this event. This being their 3rd year running, they saw the number of attendees tripple compared to last year's event. What really stood out of this event for me was the venue! It was just perfect! Right next to the water. What made it even more perfect was the beautiful weather. It was one of those days when the Danes could enjoy and get their refill of some sun rays!

It wasn't just the venue and weather that were perfect; it was the content, the quality of speakers, the ambiance, the insightful debates and the speeches. The fact that the event around 1200 people in such an open large space, meant that there was an excellent opportunity to network and make new friends. I met so many incredible people and made good connections, something that is extremely important and very hard to do at large events.

The most interesting thing however, was the delegates. Everyone was happy, smiling and friendly. This was really aided by how chilled out this event was- very typical Danish. You could the visitors from the Danes just from looking at how people were dressed. The Danes were dressed down and chilled out compared to other visitors. The whole atmosphere at the event was very relaxed, open and welcoming. I got the feeling like I was hanging out with friends discussing work, sipping some drinks and enjoying the weather. Very different from the feeling you get attending many industry events. I absolutely loved it!

My keynote was titled: The Transformative Potential of Inclusion in Fintech, focusing on correlation between financial performance, profitability, and diversity. The financial sector is a service industry, making it extremely crucial for the industry to have full representation of the society it serves at all levels, yet this is still not the case and Denmark is not any different than other countries.

Research and studies have been done that clearly indicate that businesses that are diverse perform better than those that are not. With globalisation, migration and emigration, it is silly for any company or business leader to continue thinking, operating and designing products and services with the same old mentality of a monolithic approach. It no longer works. My focus was on:

• Customer Diversity
• Product Design and Diversity
• Workforce Diversity

While a lot of people usually think diversity only relates to gender, my keynote discussed different dimensions of diversity:

• Race and Ethnicity
• Age and Generation
• Gender and Gender Identity
• Socio-economic Status and Background
• Sexual Orientation
• Religious and Spiritual Beliefs
• Disability and Ability
• Personality & Educational level

Annette Printz Nielsen and I also took this opportunity to launch the Danish chapter for EWPN, with the 1st meet-up to be held in September.

The highlight of the trip was the boat ride. Sight seeing Copenhagen by boat was magnificent!

I was however, not prepared to see naked men doing all sorts of yoga positions along the water shores of Freetown Christiania- Copenhagen’s alternative neighbourhood. I got a few lessons on Danish history and autonomy of this free town! I will definitely be back in Copenhagen for the 2020 Copenhagen Fintech event!

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