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Matt Meets: Lee Griffin – CEO and Founder – GoCompare

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Matt Hyde, Director Recruit 121 (Finance & FinTech) Managing Director of FinTech Awards Wales & London & Finance Awards Wales Meets:

Lee Griffin,

CEO and Founder,

GoCompare

 

Please introduce yourself and your role in Go Compare

Lee Griffin, CEO and Founder, GoCompare.

Where are the opportunities for Fintech in Wales?

From a FinTech perspective, it’s the most exciting place to be in the UK in my view. We’ve got a lot of exciting companies based here – which we have just seen in this year’s award entries – and the work that FinTech Wales is doing to invite companies to “Scale in Wales” is exactly what we need.

The opportunity for FinTech in Wales is to work together as a sector and build on our existing strengths – for example, we are undoubtedly the comparison capital of the UK and the expertise and experience in this particular area of FinTech is unrivalled. So as a sector, we need to learn from our own experiences and make it easier for start-ups to launch in Wales, and also give a warm welcome to businesses outside Wales so that they want to grow here.

What does being involved in Fintech Awards Wales mean to Go Compare?

It’s now our second year of being a sponsor and we are always proud to be involved in these awards. It’s a great opportunity to be a part of something that showcases the best in Wales when it comes to FinTech and I’ve really enjoyed learning more about this year’s entrants.

The last 12 months have been different for every business sector but with people being much more comfortable conducting their finances and shopping online, it’s been huge for FinTech. Innovation has been sped up exponentially and I’m excited to see if that pace of development continues as society starts to open up more.

What advice would you give a young technical professional?

My advice to anyone starting in FinTech is to do all the obvious things – such as work hard – but something I appreciate a lot more now is networking, and how it’s helped me in my career. I’m not a natural networker so I didn’t always put myself forward in that environment but as I’ve got older, I can see the benefits of meeting new people and sharing ideas. It’s something I think I closed myself off to when I was younger but now I see the importance of it.

Business News Wales