We’re working on making our product stronger by introducing services that can help people with their everyday needs, says Elena Lavezzi, who leads the growth of Southern Europe at Revolut.
Still in your early 30s, you have worked for three of the biggest start-ups in the world: Uber, Circle and Revolut. What has driven you to this success?
I’m completely aligned with Revolut’s motto ‘Never settle’, not only professionally but also in my everyday life. My desire to always move on, evolve, develop and produce has been there since I can remember. It’s therefore a way of life, that I also apply to my work.
Professional success is not related to luck, but it’s highly related to the effort we put day by day. It’s related to the ability to grasp the opportunity to develop, even when it’s not visible.
Last year, an article in The Huffington Post described you as “a volcano”. Would you agree with this description?
I think it’s an interesting and at the same time creative approach of describing my ‘never settled’ attitude. As a person I never stop, I’m always looking for new challenges and experiences that can take me to the next step of my life. I’m constantly moving towards my goals regardless of the time or energy that is required. Maybe, I would say that the “volcano” is this need I have to constantly move.
In a world where a lot of businesses – especially in the fintech space – are still very masculine, you are a poster girl for women entrepreneurs. What are the barriers that currently hold more women from entrepreneurship and leadership?
The barriers are in our minds. I strongly believe that women are equally capable as men. There is room for everyone, regardless of gender, skin colour or anything else that is not related to our skills. We should normalise this, because women have the same ability to grow in the exact same way as men.
The people of Malta are well informed about new ways of managing their finances and we’re delighted they trust Revolut on this
It’s important for girls and women to understand from their early years that they are capable of achieving whatever careers they desire. Taking fintech as an example, it’s a field where diversity is needed. Different approaches towards the same direction are resulting in success. Fintech companies that have adopted this diverse approach have seen their companies succeeding, simply because their internal influences vary, as their audience varies.
A more balanced environment, that everyone is able to express themselves, is undoubtedly a more productive environment. It’s simple.
Do these barriers also exist for young people?
Nowadays, we see more and more young people chasing their dreams. A lot of young entrepreneurs are now entering into the game. The high level of education they receive from universities along with the technology we have, gives them the opportunity to experiment more now than in the past years.
Taking Revolut as an example, there’s a huge number of young and ambitious employees. Also, the majority of the start-up companies tend to hire people with fresh ideas. Therefore, I would say that these barriers are falling down.
What growth does Revolut aim to achieve in Southern Europe and worldwide?
It’s important to us to help the people living in Southern Europe to take control over their finances. Working towards this direction, we’re now working on making our product stronger by introducing services that can help people with their everyday needs. Which means that by creating the best product, we’re increasing the number of customers in the SE markets.
In the next few months we will launch Revolut Junior, where parents will be able to add their children to their Revolut account as secondary users, each with their own Junior card.
This will be followed by a dedicated app for kids. Our mission is simple: we want to help kids gain financial skills for life, little by little through experience and with help from their parents.
As a company that never settles, we’re working hard on expanding globally. After Singapore and Australia, we will focus on the US and Japan with a goal of building a global financial platform for all people’s financial needs: from simple budgeting and analytics that allow users to have more control over their spending, to insuring themselves and their friends from €1 a day while on holiday, or even buying fractional shares to start their investment portfolio. We want everything to be accessible via a user-friendly app, that can be downloaded for free offers extremely high levels of security and personalisation in the industry.
And what role does Malta play in this growth?
Malta has played a key role for our growth in Southern Europe. It has become one of the fastest growing markets in Southern Europe and it is amazing to see that a small country like Malta is leading the way and adopting new technologies. The people of Malta are well informed about new ways of managing their finances and we’re delighted they trust Revolut on this.