CYLS 201: Africa X Fintech - Identity, Finance and the Path to Personal Growth with Yoeal Haile

2023-10-02

Episode Summary In this episode of the Africa X Series, Kevin talks with Yoeal Haile, CEO and Co-Founder of Sava, on the ways that his education and career opportunities have helped him discover the life he wants to live. Yoeal shares the story of how a seventh grade stock market club led to his passion for fintech, how he used an engineering degree and some tenacity to break into Wall Street, the investment he made in himself and his goals that got him into grad school, and the pivotal moments that led to him sorting out his identity as a first-generation African American...

Episode Summary

In this episode of the Africa X Series, Kevin talks with Yoeal Haile, CEO and Co-Founder of Sava, on the ways that his education and career opportunities have helped him discover the life he wants to live. Yoeal shares the story of how a seventh grade stock market club led to his passion for fintech, how he used an engineering degree and some tenacity to break into Wall Street, the investment he made in himself and his goals that got him into grad school, and the pivotal moments that led to him sorting out his identity as a first-generation African American immigrant and moving back to Africa. Kevin and Yoeal discuss Kevin’s “Ambition Mentality” and the opportunities that can make change fun, the principle of kaizen, and possibilities for the future of fintech in Africa.

Kevin Y. Brown

Kevin is a seasoned multi-media executive who is passionate about Africa’s digital future. As an award winning entrepreneur, podcast producer (over 1,000 episodes across different genres with over 30 million downloads across clients) and tech veteran, Kevin is the Chief Content officer and Head of Strategy at Afripods leading their multi-country strategy and product vision.

Kevin is the host of the Create Your Life Series podcast and has been featured or spoken in Forbes, Black Enterprise, Essence, Podcast Movement, Podcast Sessions, Ted X, Sirius XM, Inc. magazine and many more…

Yoeal Haile

Yoeal is the CEO and Co-Founder of Sava, a fintech business helping businesses manage their finances and access affordable credit. He was previously the CEO and Founder of Aspira, the largest Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) fintech in East Africa, the Founder of Winelife, and also worked as the Chief Strategy Officer of the African Leadership Group where he helped the founding team establish universities in Rwanda and Mauritius. Yoeal also spent time as an EquityDerivatives Associate for Merrill Lynch in Hong Kong and New York. He has a MBA with a dual major in Finance and Management from The Wharton School of Business and a BS in Industrial Engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Insights From the Episode

How investing in yourself and committing to your goals with tenacity can open up opportunities
Tips for starting a successful business and bringing in a strong customer base
How to take care of yourself as a leader and avoid burnout
The impact of having and becoming a mentor to give back to your community
Tips for those wanting to get involved in the African fintech space
The power of intuition and trusting in yourself
Overcoming work challenges and the ‘near death experiences’ in a company by focusing on the long-term game
How making changes to your diet, sleep schedule, and cutting out alcohol could affect your personal and professional life
Using challenges as an opportunity for personal feedback and looking within yourself

Quotes From the Show

“For those who went over prior, generations and generations ago, it’s very interesting when you have those who’ve just come and it’s like, ‘oh we’re so different.’ In reality, at least to me, a lot of our cultures and traditions are similar, they just look different because of the amount of time away from the homeland. I think about what happens to that first generation Eritrean in five generations. How much of the culture is still intact versus it becoming Americanized or African-Americanized? This is about bringing us together and bringing abundance to our communities. Because at the end of the day, whether it’s now or it’s in five generations, we’re all going to still be fighting the same fight. I think that there’s strength in numbers.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Create Your Life Series, #201
“I knew I wanted to go to Wall Street, but at the same time I didn’t want to study finance. I think there’s a separation between following your passion and what you do for a living. For me I was like let me do something that gives me optionality and challenges me, and I thought engineering was that.” - Yoeal Haile, Create Your Life Series, #201
“One phrase that I love is ‘Kaizen’, continuous improvement. Just knowing that even if everyone’s happy you’re continuing to raise that bar for your customers and they’ll be your brand ambassadors and you’ll see a ton of organic growth.” - Yoeal Haile, Create Your Life Series, #201
“One thing I enjoy about entrepreneurship is when you get to a certain stage of the business and your product is out there and you can see people interacting with your product; that’s the ultimate high. I don’t think there’s anything in the world that feels better than that.” - Yoeal Haile, Create Your Life Series, #201
“At the end of the day you just have to have a clear vision of what your purpose is and keep that top of mind always. Every day think about it, use that to ground you, and keep pushing.” - Yoeal Haile, Create Your Life Series, #201
“Self work is a continuous process. It’s a lifelong journey, and once you start embracing it you start to see things change around you.” - Yoeal Haile, Create Your Life Series, #201
“I’m always challenging myself to become better and learn something new, so I’m going to continue to keep setting up new goals and knocking them down. That’s my real thing, but also continuing to look inward and be present with myself and focus on the things that matter to me and also continue to be open, honest and vulnerable with myself and others.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Create Your Life Series, #201
“My mentality is Ambition Mentality. Ambition is my word, a word that means a lot to me. For me it’s always about ‘feed your ambition.’ The ambition mentality is about getting better and being better every day, and also being open to being wrong so that you can continue to ultimately get better.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Create Your Life Series, #201
“Change is fun. It’s fun as in you know what’s going to happen on the other end of it. There are going to be times where it’s challenging, it’s de-motivating and all of these things, but what’s on the other side of it is beautiful. So embrace the challenge of having to evolve and to change. I think the interesting part about it is that most people don’t embrace the challenge happily of making the change and evolving, and I wish that a lot more people would because there is so much more that you could become, and to me it really matters.” - Kevin Y. Brown, Create Your Life Series, #201