How to build a fintech that contributes to reducing economic inequality? Lanax, the project of two entrepreneurs

María Paola Garza and Roberto Sánchez Valenzuela are two students from the Tecnológico de Monterrey who, despite studying different careers, the first in Finance and the second in Physical Engineering, managed to match ideas for a common good: reduce economic inequality through financial technology.

In an interview, the two entrepreneurs talked about Lanax, which began as an academic project but they plan to materialize it in an institution that uses blockchain technology to be able to offer person to person loans and thus change the paradigm of financial services in Mexico so that they have a 100% social approach.

“In addition to offering a credit to the person, we are offering a financial education that will help you know how to make viable decisions for your business and for your financial health, so that trust can be rebuilt, whether you like it or not, trust in banks for low-income people is totally lost,” Garza said. .

In the words of Sánchez Valenzuela, economic inequality is the basis of many of the problems that society currently has; however, to know how to attack this phenomenon, it is first necessary to understand it, which is why the project is in an analysis phase that they hope to materialize little by little.

“In the end, the project seeks to reduce economic inequality and from there it is already controversial, but we really believe that it is an idea that can benefit anyone regardless of their ideology because this model of collective financing and loans between individuals, through the blockchain with smart contracts, can reduce the costs of credits,” said Sánchez.

For both students, Mexico has a very marked problem that contributes to economic inequality: on the one hand, many people currently do not have access to financing and, on the other, credit rates are very high, which generates a voracious marketwhere many foreign platforms see an opportunity, without really being a development lever for people.

In Mexico, just over half of the adult population has not had formal financing, mainly because they do not like to get into debt and, furthermore,do not meet the requirements of financial institutions.

“We see that in Mexico it has a very high unemployment rate and basically it is because there are no opportunities for MSMEs to grow. People complain that there are no businesses and there are no jobs, because people who can create jobs are not support and put obstacles in their way so they can grow and create jobs for 10 more people,” said María Paola Garza.

education, essential

One of the pillars that Lanax intends to build is financial education, because for its founders, it is important that people learn how to make the best financial decisions to improve your life.

“The credit problem in Mexico comes from the lack of financial education. People end up borrowing huge amounts for the simple fact of not knowing what 98% of the Total Annual Cost that is being charged on a card means (…) Many low-income people end up in debt and cannot pay and that itself takes away the opportunity, in the future, of having healthy credit,” Garza said.

Currently Lanax is part of an academic project of its founders, but the intention is that it materialize in a Collective Funding Institutionunder the law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions, known as the Fintech Law, which has so far authorized 14 entities of this type.

For this, the founders of Lanax, natives of Monterrey, Nuevo León, said they were aware of the challenge that this represents, because in addition to having a well-grounded model, they are necessary resources, investors who are interested in the projectthe development of technology, among many other things, which is why both foresee that in August 2023 the project will already be in its initial phase, with its tests, without breaking the regulations.

“In August (2023) I do see a structure and already offering a loan, I definitely do see it. Also much more formality in the structure of the team and in all the information that we are going to be giving because, as mentioned, education is pillar in this project that we are doing. We not only seek to make the change, but also to educate in the process”, highlighted Roberto Sánchez.