We spoke to the purpose-driven social impact leaders of our partner companies during the COVID-19 pandemic to find out the challenges they faced, how they resolved to overcome them, and their thoughts on accelerating Shared Impact.
In this series, meet Malcolm Loudon, Head of Operations of Good Financial.
Good Financial exists to serve the financial needs of domestic workers and empower them to thrive. It does that by doing what most people don’t do — listening, seeking to understand, finding root causes of problems.
Good Financial helps the domestic workers in Hong Kong “by providing ethical, low-interest loans”. How grave is the issue of loan sharks and exorbitant interest rates in Hong Kong, particularly during the pandemic?
Indeed, the issue is grave and the economic impact is substantial. Majority of our members hail from the Philippines, which has been badly affected by the pandemic. This has put even more strain on Hong Kong-based domestic workers to send back money to support their families, which has led to an increase in demand for credit.
It’s highly likely that this increasing demand for financial support has led to workers taking on more debt than normal, potentially from unscrupulous sources. As a result, loan sharks and high-interest lenders are almost certainly thriving in times like this.
What are the requirements and process of getting a loan through Good Financial?
To borrow from Good Financial, applicants need to be a domestic worker living in Hong Kong. They also need to bring their original passport and employment contract to their loan appointment. Finally, they need to have at least three months left on their visa.
One principle that we abide by is that we never ask applicants to register a guarantor. We believe that the guarantor system is toxic and responsible for huge amounts of pain and stress amongst the domestic helper community.
Our loan application process is very simple: Step 1 – Applicants need to download the Good Cash app and book an office appointment. Step 2 – They then come to our office for an appointment. If their application is approved, the money will be released to them instantly.
The pandemic has brought to forefront the financial and legal vulnerabilities of the migrant community. What are the current challenges faced by Good Financial and how have you been coping with them? What are the major lessons you have learnt that would go into building resilience in your organization, and/or further your impact going forward?
Our main focus is on growing rapidly so that we can help more domestic workers get access to affordable credit and a product that is exponentially better than anything else available to them.
Our main challenges lie in removing the bottlenecks that will allow us to achieve that rate of growth!
We have learned a huge amount since we started. For example, our strategy is to ruthlessly prioritise, be obsessed with output and important other metrics, such as hiring carefully, staying very close to our customers. These are just some of the principles that we adhere to religiously at Good Financial.
Lastly, where do you see Good Financial five years from now?
Five years is really quite a long time in the FinTech space. I truly believe by then we’ll be serving tens of thousands of migrant workers in multiple countries with a suite of world-class financial services that are truly tailored to their needs.
