Business Daily meets: Fintech founder Upasana Taku
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 796 Ratings
🗓️ 13 December 2024
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Upasana Taku is the co-founder of an app that changed the way millions of Indians use digital technology to make payments. Mobikwik now has more than a 150 million registered users.
When Upasana set up the business in 2009 with her co-founder Bipin Preet Singh, India was still a cash-dependant society, but having worked for big tech companies in the US, Upasana knew there was a gap in the market.
Devina Gupta asks her about her decision to leave a high-powered job in the US to move back to India to start a fintech company, and how she convinced both investors and her family that it was a smart business move.
Presenter/producer: Devina Gupta
(Photo: Upasana Taku. Credit: Mobikwik)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Business Daily Meets here on the BBC World Service. |
| 0:05.2 | Namaste. |
| 0:06.2 | My name is Devina Gupta, and this is where we bring you in-depth interviews with people in business from around the globe. |
| 0:13.8 | Today we are meeting Upasna Taku, co-founder and chief financial officer at Mubikwick, an Indian payment service provider. |
| 0:23.0 | Most Indians were completely on cash. |
| 0:25.7 | But the opportunity is so large. |
| 0:28.6 | We'll hear about her decision to leave a well-paid tech job in California to go back to India to start her own business. |
| 0:36.7 | My family was not supportive. |
| 0:37.9 | They did not want me to give up my nice, cushy life in California and moved back. |
| 0:43.1 | Your father didn't talk to you for several months. |
| 0:45.7 | Yeah, for two, two and a half months. |
| 0:48.0 | How it all played out. |
| 0:50.0 | When we started, I couldn't have imagined we'll reach one million people, |
| 0:53.0 | but today we are reaching 157 million Indian consumers. |
| 0:57.1 | And we learn the key to a healthy work-life balance. |
| 1:00.8 | This is Business Daily Meets with Opasna Taku. |
| 1:07.7 | Mobyquick is one of India's most popular mobile payment apps. |
| 1:12.1 | Founded by Opasna Taku and her now husband, Bipin Preet Singh, |
| 1:16.4 | the company has more than 150 million registered users |
| 1:20.7 | who log into the app every day to make a wide range of payments |
| 1:24.8 | from utility bills to purchases in local businesses. |
| 1:29.4 | And it all started in 2008, after Opasna decided to leave a job in the United States, |
... |
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