S2 - Episode 4: FintechU from Georgia Tech Professional Education - Amy Corn, Academic Program Director and Daniel Hadgu, Georgia State Robinson alum

Amy Corn, Academic Program Director of FintechU from Georgia Tech Professional Education is joined by Daniel Hadgu, a recent graduate from Georgia State's Robinson College of Business. In this discussion Amy and Daniel discuss the professional education offerings in development at Georgia Tech. 

Georgia Fintech Academy
https://www.georgiafintechacademy.org/

LinkedIn (Georgia Fintech Academy)
https://www.linkedin.com/company/georgia-fintech-academy/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome to the Georgia FinTech Academy podcast. The Georgia Vintech Academy is a collaboration between Georgia's FinTech industry and the university system of Georgia. This talent development initiative addresses a massive demand for FinTech professionals and give learners the specialized education experiences needed to enter the tech sector.

Speaker 2: 0:25

This is Tommy Marshall executive director of the Georgia FinTech Academy. And welcome to our episode 34 of season two of the podcast we have now been offering this podcast for a full year and in celebration of that, we've got fantastic, fantastic guest today. Amy corn, the academic program director for FinTech. You have Georgia tech professional education, and Daniel had to who one year ago was on episode two of the Georgia FinTech Academy podcast. Welcome back, Daniel, Amy. Great to have you with us today.

Speaker 3: 1:10

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 1:13

Let's get started first with introductions. Uh, Amy, I'm going to let you start and please tell us about your career journey and how you've come. Uh, got involved with this, um, financial services technology industry.

Speaker 3: 1:31

Absolutely. Well again, thank you for having me today. I'm excited to be here, especially with Daniel on the line as well. So, um, my career journey, so, um, I think it's best to start that conversation with, uh, really just my love for both art and science. That's how I explain most of the time when I'm talking about my career. So, um, as I graduated high school and entered into college at the university of Tennessee, I pursued my love of art and that led me into, uh, marketing and communications. Um, but as I exited, um, that and graduated and moved on to my professional career, I, um, I entered into the cells world. And so I became a salesperson of advertising and media right out of college. And, uh, one day just packed up my bags because I grew up in a small town in East Tennessee and packed my bags and moved to Charleston, South Carolina. When I got there, I started working for a company, um, at that time called cellular one. And this was in an industry called wireless that I didn't know anything about. And so I started out as a customer service representative answering the phone. And, um, what that led to was I was actually a customer service representative making appointments for salespeople go on. And I thought, well, why am I making appointments for someone else to go sell when I could do that myself? So I became a sales person selling wireless, uh, slash cellular devices. And at that time, the cellular phones were about as big as a briefcase or installed in your vehicle. And, uh, so I was a salesperson selling cellular phones every day for about$2,000 each and my career throughout the wireless industry evolved. And I think it's important, especially for students to think about those entry-level roles that, uh, can lead you to, um, amazing careers. So throughout my wireless career, I spent 17 years with what became Verizon wireless. And during that 17 years, I had a new role or took a new job within Verizon every two years. So I did everything from customer service to sales, to sales management, to general management, to marketing analysis, to marketing and communications to, uh, when I left the company, I was actually running two call centers of 400 people that were responsible for both,

Speaker 4: 4:27

For both loyal

Speaker 3: 4:28

And revenue generation. So the moral of my wireless story is don't pass up opportunities to both try something you don't know, and also don't pass up opportunities, um, that, uh, can lead you to various places. So I took a new role if there was a new opportunity or I had to find a new opportunity. I was all in. So my, my moral of the story there has put me in coach. So from there, I was working in wireless, as I mentioned, and, um, and moved into a role within global payments. Global payments is a leading technology and payment provider. Um, both that's headquartered here in Atlanta. And the reason I moved from wireless into payments is because I love technology. Um, but I didn't understand this thing called FinTech. When I actually went to work for global payments, they had been in the marketplace. Um, they were a spinoff from a company, um, that was about 50 years old. They spent off from that company. In 2001, I went to work for global payments in 2007 to build out their capable marketing and communications capabilities. This was a company that was about a billion dollar, um, billion dollars in revenue, um, that was lacking marketing and capabilities as at that time payments was really looked at as a commodity. So during my 11 year career at global payments, which is an amazing opportunity, I saw that company go from about a billion dollars to over$5 billion from about 2000 employees to 10,000 employees globally. Um, over that time period through mergers and acquisitions, as well as building out, um, their overall capabilities and financial services. And I know we'll talk more about FinTech as we move throughout this discussion today. But again, when I went into global payments, uh, again, back to didn't know exactly what the FinTech industry was, uh, but knew I had skills and capabilities, uh, to build out a robust marketing and communication, um, team in that industry. And so again, don't be afraid to jump into something you may not know a whole lot about, but you know, you have the skills and you're also a lifelong learner. So that's kind of the other thing about my career. I've, I've been a lifelong learner. Um, I'm a capability builder and a problem solver. And so I like to use those skills to really build strategic plans and execute those, uh, for, for growth

Speaker 2: 7:18

And your, and your, the role you've just taken recently, Georgia tech, um, is certainly going to take advantage of that, I guess, passion, and then certainly, um, all of the, your experiences in this FinTech industry. And, and as I understand it, you're now the academic program director of, um, what we're calling FinTech, you, which is going to be a professional, um, education offering from Georgia tech. Yeah,

Speaker 3: 7:55

I think this is a good marriage again of that art and science, and also a good marriage of my, my passion again, around technology and my love of technology, the pace of which it moves again, that complexity and problem solving, but also I have a passion for the community. So I do a lot of work in the community, particularly around providing access to education and healthcare services for underserved communities. So this is really a good marriage of both my skills and my personal passion. And, uh, when we talk in our little bit about just the, of the evolution of the FinTech industry, there are opportunities out in this industry that really demand, uh, skillsets and demand talent. And, um, again, playing a role in that, particularly in a city like Atlanta and a state like Georgia, that we can really make a huge impact, not only in the industry, but for individuals, so helping individuals, but up-skill, and re-skill, um, for that work, uh, workforce demand, um, that is required for FinTech. Uh, I'm really passionate about, so yes, this has been, uh, it's a great opportunity and I look forward to talking a little bit more as you and Danielle and I continue the discussion.

Speaker 2: 9:12

Yeah, love it. Um, Daniel, tell us about you.

Speaker 5: 9:17

Sure. So I'm a first generation at a Chan born in Philadelphia, but raised in Atlanta also, I'm a recent college graduate from Georgia state universities, J Matt Robinson, college of business, also a co-founder of Ethiopia, which is a SAS platform that allows individuals from the United States to be able to invest in the U S stock market fund transfer directly pay bills and be able to purchase mobile top-up, um, between us and Ethiopia. And also I am going to be coming onboard, come fall time at Vanguard within their investment and management and development program.

Speaker 2: 9:58

Awesome. Congratulations on both the progress you've even making on ETO pay, and then certainly your opportunity with Vanguard and, uh, you know, I, you and I first met Daniel, um, a little over a year ago. And, um, you know, as I was saying at the top of the show, you'd come on to do our very second, uh, episode of, uh, the Georgia FinTech Academy podcast. And then I know like through, um, as you were wrapping up your senior year at Georgia state, you had an opportunity to participate in a couple of the, the courses. We did some different things together. Um, could you just say a little bit about that experience?

Speaker 5: 10:44

Yeah, so I actually took my first course as a sophomore, I actually took one of the graduate FinTech courses over at Buckhead. I was graduate students and it really started from, um, wanting to be able to start ETO pay. And so, you know, I came on board and we were able to understand the recent FinTech developments, the technology underlining cryptocurrency and blockchain, smart contracts, decentralization applications, as well as just the process of FinTech innovation, but closer to the latter of my tenure at Georgia state university. I also participated in foundations of FinTech and banking and FinTech, which allowed us to understand FinTech and its relationship to modern day banking and both courses. I really appreciated that allowed us to have real life application through a five week project that allowed us to work on segments of a company, which in my case was, was Toyota financials and FIS. And we applied our running to develop a real life solution or partnership.

Speaker 2: 11:48

Yeah, that's great. Thanks for that overview. Um, and, uh, thanks for your engagement with the Georgia FinTech County. It's been really wonderful. Well, let's turn back to Amy this, um, what, what we're creating or what you're creating with, uh, within tech, you at Georgia tech. Um, can you give us a thought thumbnail of the, um, the program and development?

Speaker 3: 12:18

Absolutely. I think, uh, I know Tommy, your listeners are familiar with the FinTech industry, but I just want to just start by just kind of scoping this a little bit, just to refresh everyone's memory about just the FinTech industry within our state. So again about 70% of the world's payments are processed or a Georgia company, um, Georgia, as your listeners know, is home to several of the largest asset management capital market insurance payment companies in the world, uh, or home to about 170 FinTech companies that generate about$70 billion in revenue annually. And so as you and I sit in these seats, I think it is important for us to just continue to paint the landscape of how important this industry is for our state, um, and painting that landscape. It is, um, it's really to be able to maintain this position and meet the demands of both the talent, um, that the industry needs is they need a reliable source, right? So providing as you have over the last, um, several years, those educational options for the undergraduate community, Georgia tech is poised to provide that support for learning and development of the existing talent pool, um, in a professional setting to both re-skill up-skill for this ever-changing marketplace. And so, um, as we'll talk, you know, the survey, uh, financial services industry is very different today than it has been in the past. I told you a little bit about my global payments journey. Um, but this talent development initiative really gives learners specialized educational experiences in the professional education space. Um, so to that, we are looking to develop both, um, overview as Daniel said, similar to what has been done in the undergraduate curriculum, but, uh, overview, uh, Thintech, but also the technological demands of the digital economy. So that can range everywhere from, uh, digital payments to cybersecurity. And the program will provide both knowledge and understanding of the various dimensions of the industry, but again, gain, uh, help others gain a deeper understanding of, uh, specializations within the industry. You know, we can throw out a lot of, kind of, uh, buzzwords or terms that, uh, your audience continues to, um, engage in such as artificial intelligence and, uh, data and analytics, big data. And again, I mentioned cybersecurity, but we're targeted at three industries. One is new professionals, um, new professionals who are beginning their career and FinTech. The second is folks who are in career transition. So these are working professionals, maybe from a different industry who want to transition into FinTech. And then the third are career advancement opportunities. So individuals who are already working within FinTech, uh, within the ecosystem who are looking to enhance their knowledge and want to really elevate their career trajectory within the industry. So those are really the three target audiences for the professional education program, um, through Georgia tech, as you know, we're in development, this is a new program, um, and in conjunction with, uh, the FinTech Academy and the university system of Georgia. But I also thought it would be, um, helpful to just kind of give you an overview of the Georgia tech professional education. So it's a global campus, um, and that's the lifetime educator location arm of the Georgia Institute of technology. It is a top 10 ranked public university by us news world and report. We offer more than 600 courses and boot camp, 600 courses and boot camps. We have 63 professional and graduate certificate programs and 13 online degree programs and technology business, and a very industry specific. So Georgia tech professional education is a unit with the direct connection to the business community and its workforce. And that uniquely positioned us to serve the lifetime education needs, um, of this global community amplifying the impact and expanding ex access to education for professionals.

Speaker 2: 16:45

That's thanks, Amy. As I'm listening to you, just a cup, one thing that comes to mind that I think I would add is as you and I have been working together on this development is that our, our strategy and development has for this offering to be digital first. And, uh, that's been driven by one of the key points you were just making around the, this industry is global and not only is this industry FinTech global in nature, but the Georgia tech professional education offering capability is also global in nature. And so it's been, um, I guess very exciting for me to be thinking about that, how we're going to really have high quality access to these educational opportunities, taking advantage of, uh, the digital platforms we'll have at our, at our, um, uh, to use and take advantage of

Speaker 3: 17:40

Absolutely. I gave you some statistics about Georgia tech and then a little more about that Tommy from, uh, Georgia tech professional education, um, you know, we, we service, uh, adult learners and we educate, uh, more than 129,000 individuals, uh, learners, um, representing about 1600 companies on an annual basis. And to your point, that is globally. Um, and fiscal year 2020, that included 21,000 online degree seekers. So back to your digital first pieces and that's, um, again about 8,000 professional development learners and, um, and those were served primarily digitally over, uh, 2020, uh, as we all know, um, from a pandemic perspective. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5: 18:30

And I actually even have a, a question, I mean, taking into consideration, which has been said just now, I think even before the pandemic, I think that the concept of work had shifted. I think technological advancements have set the stage for greater flexibility around where and how we work and how people are getting paid. And I think the pandemic magnified those ideas. So I guess my question to you, I mean, do you feel like taking into consideration these market dynamics are some of the reasons that driven for a program such as the one that provided at Georgia tech?

Speaker 3: 19:05

Absolutely. Daniel, I think, um, you know, the change in the workforce and to your point, even before the pandemic, just how we learn and how we engage, uh, within the professional setting, um, and the pace of the industry, right? And so when we start diving into some of the, the dynamics of the industry and the digital economy, um, I think those factors combine both the demands of the industry demand from the workforce and demand from the learning community, those three factors that three legged stool has really, um, brought us to this place today. Absolutely.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Yeah. And I think that that change, that dynamism, that you're mentioning Amy is a reason, I guess, I believe we're going to have a ton of success with this professional education offering and FinTech. I mean, I just think about, I mean, just within the last couple of weeks, um, there's been, you know, remarkable news that is either directly relevant to FinTech or that FinTech has, uh, influenced and the broader economy, for instance, um, there was, there's been a lot of discussion, uh, around the financial market, financial markets driven by retail investors, uh, in the kind of game stop mean stock, uh, news of the last couple of weeks that brought quite a bit of attention on a FinTech broker dealer provider called Robin hood. Um, there's a lot to learn about Robin hood business model, um, that could be an instructive to, um, the FinTech industry and those in it, uh, just as an, uh, and then also we've seen, uh, just really lots and lots of newer companies like Robin hood, but then the, uh, larger FinTech companies continuing to expand, invest very aggressively merge with each other, uh, like your former employer, global payments, for instance, in the last, um, year and a half, um, uh, merged or acquired a total systems down in Columbus, Georgia re very, you know, also very remarkable, uh, provider of payment related services, uh, as an example.

Speaker 3: 21:24

Absolutely. And I think, um, you know, along with that, not only kind of this merger and acquisition, but to your point, the startup community, as well as again, just the advances in technology, you mentioned some of the latest news, um, you know, pay near, which is a FinTech startup on the specializes in facilitating cross border payments. We were talking about the global aspect of this, um, earlier is, um, you know, set to go public by merging with, um, a blank check company led by the bank Corp, uh, founder, Betsy Cohen. And, um, you know, we we've heard the term SPAC, uh, a lot over the past, uh, particularly over the past several months. Um, but this'll be Betsy Cohen's forced back. Um, and so the other, the other thing about specs, when we think about both the FinTech industry is, uh, reading some of the JP Morgan, um, research on this. I heard a statistic this week that, you know, sponsors of specs, um, on average, since 2019 have, uh, had a return of 958% return on investment and, uh, which is just mind blowing, right. And Daniel and I were talking about this just the other day about the digital gold rush. So not only the advancement in technology, but the, uh, the investment that's happening in FinTech and the evolution, as you mentioned, of many of these companies,

Speaker 2: 22:53

Daniel, I'm curious to hear from you. I mean, you know, I'm thinking you, you you've graduated recently from Georgia state Robinson. Uh, you're gonna shortly be starting this great opportunity at Vanguard. Um, when, you know, what are there like what's on your mind as you think about how to prepare yourself for success in your new, your new role?

Speaker 5: 23:26

Yeah. Um, I think just always winning the day, always getting better, whether it's from a tangible to personal things, I think business will go on life is going to continue to, may look different than before. But I think with all these changes, it really depends on your employer, your industry, all those things. But I think, um, right now, how I've been kind of preparing is, you know, studying up for the SIE, the CFA level one, you know, dissecting and, and soaking up as much knowledge as possible because really everything is on the internet. I like to say that I'm still currently enrolled in Google university because every, everything is online right now. And so I'm just really take the time out my day just to make sure that I am ready for Vanguard. I am ready for my startup and I, and I'm just getting better every single day. So I just break it down to simplicity like that.

Speaker 3: 24:29

Um, Tommy, I think Daniel's a great example again, of that lifelong learner who is, um, really immersing himself into, uh, into the various aspects of the FinTech ecosystem. Um, and again, a great target for professional education, as well as again, just that ongoing learning, not only as Daniel, um, you know, a student, uh, of the industry, um, both in his undergrad, but he is also an entrepreneur, uh, right, who is also driving a new innovation within the industry, which, um, again, as someone who's been in the industry for, for quite some time, um, it's inspirational. And as we continue to see this industry evolve, um, I think Daniel is, is really, uh, a great example of what we want to continue to see, to kind of, um, help this industry continue to evolve. Yes, a lot of things change and the news every week is different, but, but folks like Daniel and others continue to drive that. Oh, I'm sorry. Tommy, do you mind if I ask Daniel questions? So Daniel, uh, you mentioned your, your startup and, um, I know we talk a lot about again, kind of this lifelong learning. Um, and so as, as we think about just the various aspects of the ecosystem, whether that be, uh, digital payments or cyber security or the various financial models again, uh, as we talk about specs and others, um, what, what what's top of mind for you? What is, what's the urgent, um, item that you're diving more into and want to learn more about?

Speaker 5: 26:18

Yeah. Shannon, thank you for asking. So FinTech is, is broadened in term, but I think the specific track that I find myself always interested in is as payment systems currently, I've been reading up about payment systems in the United States, but really I've been starting to gravitate towards payments in Africa. I think that payments is kind of the hot topic nowadays, and it's really getting a lot of the fundings when you, when you talk about specs and things as sorts, even you, so a few months back Stripe acquired a pay stack in Nigeria for$250 million, which has never been heard of before. And, and really just the development that's going on in these countries. I think then tech is really leading, um, and, and really is the future of Africa and, and, uh, FinTech.

Speaker 2: 27:14

Yeah, that's true. I think of, uh, you know, in Nigeria it just seems to be a real hotspot. Certainly Lagos', I mean, there's the, the transaction you were just mentioning with Stripe. I know, uh, like visa has been investing there in material ways. FIS global has, uh, that has invested in flutter wave there in, um, Nigeria. Um, and I guess that's short and kind of I've drawn my attention and my personal intention on Nigeria. It seems more so in the last, uh, last year. Um, but the I'm still learning. I'm learning from you about the Eritrean Ethiopian market. Um, can you just talk a little bit more about that? I mean, I guess I've picked up on a few kind of key dynamics around, um, there's a large Eritrea and Ethiopia and set of us citizens that are, have that heritage and like the Washington DC area I've learned, um, as an example. And then of course, there's, uh, there's folks with family that, um, are, are in Ethiopia that, um, they're looking to support in different ways. Um, can you just give us a couple of key things, um, to, to know about, or to think about as we're trying to learn more about that, um, part of Africa from a FinTech sample?

Speaker 5: 28:44

Yeah, so I would say the GOP is the second most populous country in Africa. I would also say that mobile prolification and internet penetration has been continuing to accelerate within the country and even on the continent in general of Africa. Um, even a fun fact, just, you know, back in December at the Oprah actually established the first capital markets authority and it, the opiate is actually going to construct its own domestic stock exchange. Um, so it's going to be one of the 27 stock exchanges in Africa. And I think really, that's kind of interesting for me because even how I am in God and all of this when, uh, Tommy had mentioned about, you know, it, the open population, it, a Chimp population here in Atlanta, DC, and a couple of these hotbed spots. Um, they, they do have difficulty with sending money back home, trying to support their loved one and these developing countries. And even really that's where my interest and payments even stand from, because all is originated from me, just wanting to be able to help my mom send money back home. Um, but just in the manual long process of going to a Western union or, or a MoneyGram, you saw that it was an issue, whether it was from dialect to, um, people that just couldn't understand. And so, you know, my journey really came from, you know, just having this as my own issue, taking a step back and saying that I wanted to help others, but Africa, definitely the country too, or the continent to be keeping your eye on in terms of FinTech, specifically with them payments because it's an ever-changing industry over there.

Speaker 2: 30:29

And Amy, I think we're going to find an opportunity for ourselves within tech U to, um, find students participants in these markets. Um, back, I guess, flipping back to Nigeria for a second. Um, I had a great conversation just a month ago with Dr.[inaudible] AGRIMA, who runs, um, uh, FinTech, Nigeria, which is, uh, they have 202 corporate members, um, and professionals from throughout their ecosystem. And he had heard about George FinTech atomy, and we had some mutual connections really through Charles if he D whose lives here in Atlanta, but it was a remark. His is, and has been a remarkable figure and the advancement of FinTech in Nigeria. Um, and, and, um, Dr. Grima was, I mean, his ask was, you know, Tommy, how can the university system of Georgia help our professionals in our market as they're trying to understand FinTech better? And I was like, well, you know, we have, uh, these meaningful professional education courses in development at Georgia tech that will be digitally accessible. So I'm excited as we get to that point where we can start to explore those types of relationships.

Speaker 3: 31:51

Yeah, absolutely. Tommy, I would also offer a couple of things. And again, I think, um, you know, folks like Daniel, again are an inspiration because, you know, especially during a time of pandemic, we all get isolated, but I think one of the things that, you know, payments and the FinTech ecosystem really continues to bring us back to is, um, is there's a big world out there, right? And there's so much to learn. So whether we're talking about money transfers, whether we're talking about cross border, whether we're talking about kind of the, the settlement process or buy now pay later, um, in many of these areas, uh, the regulatory environment, uh, again, is very different, um, in various parts of the world. So I think there are aspects of the FinTech environment, right? We, we focus a lot. We're talking about Thintech either in two places, either the finance, uh, education or technical education. And both of those are very important, but there's so many business aspects to FinTech that, um, we can serve the population and providing professional education around these various business models. Um, and the various aspects of the ecosystem that really can bring, um, entrepreneurs like Daniel and others, um, into the ecosystem to help move it forward. The other thing that I would mention about Georgia tech, professor chalk location, as we have various other aspects that, uh, of the professional education groups that are already offered. So for example, project management, uh, we do offer some cybersecurity courses today, but we also have a language Institute that offers, uh, cross-cultural communication. And so to your point, as we continue to expand, um, FinTech and engage globally, and many of these efforts, the professional education, um, offerings from Georgia tech, both from a FinTech perspective, as well as some of the other offerings will continue to, um, help evolve the industry, um, as we move forward.

Speaker 2: 33:51

And I'll mention for those of you listening that want to keep up to date with, um, how this offerings progressing, you can search it up online, just Georgia tech, FinTech, you, or you can go to P dot G a tech.edu, uh, backslash programs, backslash FinTech, you, and you'll find, um, the website for FinTech U. And of course, we're going to be using that to keep folks apprised of the offerings.

Speaker 3: 34:21

Tommy, Tommy took my call to action there, but thank you for doing this.

Speaker 2: 34:25

Sorry. Didn't mean to jump in funny, I'm so excited about this. Um, the let's just pivot over and, uh, kind of wrap up as we usually do with news of the week in the FinTech world. Uh, Daniel, I'm going to start with you, what's caught your eye

Speaker 5: 34:43

Tesla purchasing the$1.5 billion in Bitcoin. That was just something uncalled for. And then even seeing that Tesla's going to allow you to even be able to start purchasing and cryptocurrency. I was like, wow, I think I'm a few Bitcoin short of being able to get a Tesla, but I'm happy to know that that's available.

Speaker 2: 35:05

That was, um, that was market moving news in the Bitcoin. Margaret's no question. I mean, I'm looking at a separate screen here in front of me that Bitcoin's trading that 47,600, uh, today. And I think that's up from under 40,000 when Tesla made that announcement on Monday. Um, you know what, I think that that's a really good ad Daniel, and then, but I think beneath that, and I'll encourage people to go on YouTube. Um, strategy offered a kind of CFO round table around investing, taking your as a CFO, taking your cash and investing a small part of it into Bitcoin, how micro strategy CFO has used this as a, as a money management strategy for that corporation. And so they wanted to share what that experience has been like and how they, how they'd done it. Um, there were over, I think, I want to say 4,000 CFOs that participated in that, in that, um, in that event that micro-strategy put on. Um, I think this was just, it wasn't long ago. It was like a week ago, I think, but just a little over a week ago. Um, and then of course, uh, and I'm, I'm sure Tesla's CFO was at that thing. And then, you know, maybe that spurred them to kind of make their decision, but, um, you know, just very interesting how this, uh, particularly, I guess, Bitcoins being looked at as, um, as a way to, you know, get some bigger return or get some additional return on cash, um, that they had on their balance sheet.

Speaker 3: 36:49

Yeah. Tommy and Daniel. I think that's a great one. Again, it has been kind of the talk of the town. I think the other interesting thing about that, and again, something that's overlooked or we don't talk about as much within the FinTech industry and the ecosystem, particularly over the last several years. And the evolution is, um, is again the consumer experience, right. And engaging the broader marketplace within the ecosystem. So, you know, the, the fact that you can kind of use social media, right. To, uh, to kind of drive, um, the, or it has been used, right. To drive even the impact on the stock market, right. Or to utilize these offerings, to engage the broader community and consumer base. And these offerings is just amazing to me, again, as a, as part of my career has been in marketing and communications, the impact of social media, um, on this industry has been very fascinating for me as well.

Speaker 2: 37:44

Yeah, yeah. That whole wall street bets phenomenon, uh, in the last three weeks has just really been interesting to witness the, the last, I guess news story I'd I'd mentioned is, um, PayPal reported earnings, uh, last week. Um, and if, if you've been listening to our podcast series, this isn't going to surprise you to hear that, uh, they did 6.1 billion in net revenue. Um, they had, they were up to 936 billion in payment volume and the quarter, and that's an increase of 30%, which, uh, Amy, you know, is in this payment volume world is like a mind blowing statistic.

Speaker 3: 38:33

It's incredible. It's and I'm glad you pointed that one out Tommy again, as we, as consumers is, uh, you know, we, we see ourselves as practitioners of the industry, but when we think about ourselves as consumers and again, the payment volume and how some of our payment behaviors, uh, have, and con consumption behaviors have changed again, particularly over the past year. Um, it's amazing, absolutely incredible to your point when we think about a 30% increase in, in payment volume. So I would also encourage your listeners to continue to think about that. I know we, you know, we talk about the last year, um, as you know, this very, um, tumultuous time, which it has been in so many ways, but again, back to the consumer and how we want to consume products and services and how that behavior can change over time. Um, personal stories like Daniels, um, in terms of how you kit, um, motivated and driven by, um, by personal, uh, need. And also, um, you know, I mentioned at the very beginning of this, of just, um, my passion around the community, how do we serve, um, underserved communities, not only within our own community in our backyard, but globally as well.

Speaker 2: 39:51

Well, Amy Korn, academic program, director FinTech, you Georgia tech, Daniel hag do alum rockstar of the Georgia FinTech Academy. Thank you so much for being with us today. Thanks for all your engagement with the Georgia FinTech Academy. You are always welcome. And I look forward to talking again. Soon,

Speaker 1: 40:12

The Georgia Thomas Academy podcasts are available on iTunes and Spotify to obtain additional information about the Georgia FinTech Academy. Please visit our website@georgiafintechacademy.org.