I cannot believe I haven’t blogged about Project Nemo before, but here we go. My good friend Joanne Dewar, former CEO of GPS – the payments powerhouse behind most fintechs – created the Project two years ago when she found many people with challenges being excluded from financial services. Now, two years later, it’s just won a Diamond Award at Money2020 in Las Vegas.
So, what is Project Nemo?
It’s a catalyst for change. What change? To recognise that not everyone is the same. In fact, millions of us have challenge. The challenge of being blind, suffering a stroke, not being able to stand up, a loss of limbs, being born with Downs Syndrome or something similar. It’s a long list.
An estimated 1.3 billion people worldwide have a significant disability, representing about 16% of the global population. This number is increasing due to factors like aging populations and the rise in chronic health conditions.
And what do we do about this? Specifically, how does financial services deal with this?
The answer is that they don’t.
“Everyone deserves to manage their money with confidence, dignity and independence but for the 1.5 million people in the UK living with a learning disability that basic right is often denied.”
Kate’s story is a good example (one of many):
Therefore it is admirable that Joanne, after moving on from GPS, started Project Nemo to bring disability inclusion into financial services. She was inspired by Kris Foster, co-founder of Project Nemo, and someone she worked with who had disability challenges. Kris is a great guy but, more than this, a key advocate for disability inclusion. Here’s a couple of things he has to say:
I know what it feels like to walk into an office and immediately put on a mask, hiding every part of yourself that might make life harder or that people might not understand … and I also know the relief of finally being somewhere I can just be myself. That difference – between hiding and belonging – is night and day. When people feel they belong, they can thrive, and so can the organisations around them.
Kris Foster, co-founder Project Nemo
But the line that stayed with me is when Kris said: “People used to speak for me, about me, and in front of me as though I didn’t have anything to say” and then, as Joanne says: “learning disabilities is all too often neglected within both disability inclusion, accessibility and financial inclusion conversations. It’s undeniably hard, but doesn’t mean it should be ignored.”
The result is that Project Nemo is trying to correct this deficiency and bring it to the board table. It is more than the discussion of disability inclusion. It is financial services for all.
I would strongly recommend y’all download the Project Nemo report to find out more, but if you cannot be bothered here it is anyway:
Chris M Skinner
Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...