Microfinancing, CNN Taking a Stance, and The Problem With “Growth Hacking”

How Tala is Creating Banking Opportunities for the World’s Poorest (And Why it Matters)

What happens when someone in one of the most economically disadvantaged areas of the world has a dream to start a business to help care for their family? A few years ago, the opportunity to do much of anything would have been bleak - if not nonexistent. But, ask Amylene Dingle, a mom from Manila, and she’ll tell you a different story - and it’s all thanks to the Santa Monica-based startup known as Tala.

Making just $80 a week, Dingle’s family was desperate to find a way to make more money. But Dingle, who was “unemployed, had no money saved, no credit history and couldn’t get a credit card or a bank loan,” didn’t have many options until she learned about Tala - through a Facebook ad, of all places. Using an app on her phone, Dingle was able to receive a 30-day loan for $20, paying 15% interest. Her investment, which was made to by simple-to-prepare food she could mark up when she shoaled door-do-door, paid off, giving her the profit she needed to keep going.

And today, like so many of the other people Tala helps, she’s still going.

Dedicated to seeing “the world differently”, Tala proudly offers “the world’s most accessible consumer credit product”. Founded in 2011 by the former Wall Street analyst Shivani Siroya, Tala is dramatically different than the banking options perviously available to the world’s poorest areas because, for starters, it provides instant underwriting, giving people  “who have never had a formal credit history” the ability to receive loans, ranging from $10 to $500.

So much more than just a “nice” idea, what Tala is doing for the world is creating a powerful platform for people who have never had a voice before. Contributing their ideas to the global community, the recipients of Tala’s innovative digital banking are able to finally claim their personal financial lives, changing the way they live as well as how future generations will be able to continue to interact and collaborate.

To date, Tala has raised an impressive $200 million from some of the United State’s most influential investors. Now valued at nearly $800 million thanks to the $100 million it will generate in 2019, Tala is playing a major role in providing much needed services to the nearly 1.7 billion people around the globe who are unable to ever get a bank account, let alone a loan.

But, more than just money, what Tala is able to provide to its customers is a security that affords them happier, healthier, safer, and more productive lives - ingredients that are vital for reshaping and rebuilding some of the world’s most impoverished areas. 

Why CNN is Saying No to Trump’s Presidential Ads

While it’s actually not something new (Fox News has previously removed commercials from its lineup created by President Trump’s team before he was elected president), the latest news that CNN is refusing to air two of President Trump’s latest campaign ads has the public talking.

Far from the norm, the fact that CNN will stand by its decision to not broadcast two specific commercials has heightened the battles already raging at the onset of the 2020 campaign ad wars. While Trump's 2016 ad was refused by Fox News because of the way it “portrayed immigrants as a violent threat”, the latest ads will not be seeing air time due to CNN’s ruling that the “provocative” ads are filled with inaccuracies, including issues with the impeachment inquiry from the House Democrats and other “unfair” attacks on journalists.

The Problem with “Growth Hacking” Your Business - and What You Should Do Instead

From the popular bulletproof coffee to hundreds of ways to transform your home with Ikea finds, #lifehacks have taken over the internet - and, quite possibly, your own life. A subset of #lifehacking, “growth hacking” for businesses has also become increasingly popular, with more and more business owners and entrepreneurs looking to find ways to get to their definition of success as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, the repercussions are causing damage, especially with startups.

While it’s tempting to want to “move fast and break stuff” as you accumulate money and power, the reality is that this type of “overnight success” rarely works out in the long run. And, considering how it’s built without any foundation and more sweat than passion, how could it?

If you really want your business to grow and succeed, you have to slow down and ask yourself questions that go beyond raw numbers and data. According to the inc.com contributor Erik Sherman, those questions should include:

•   What do you want your business to be?

•   How long would you like to see it last?

•   How will you fund things and what will investors, if you have any, expect in return?

•   How much growth can you afford while scaling up in a way that lets you keep customers, employees, business partners, and investors happy in the process?

•   And, what do you ultimately want out of all this?

While growth hacking your business might feel exhilarating at first, the only real way to ensure your long-term success and, more importantly, your actual satisfaction with your business is to look past the shortcuts and do the real work.