We started Jia after a decade of working in microfinance and fintech.
Hi, I'm Zach, one of Jia's co-founders. I began my career in South Sudan providing farmers with financing to grow their businesses and feed the population following a devastating civil war. My co-founder Cheng started her career helping finance community banks in Tanzania.
From these early experiences, we saw the massive need for alternate forms for financing to help communities excluded from the traditional financial system.
In the U.S., it’s easy to take for granted how simple it is to get a credit card or apply for a small business loan. But in many places around the world, it’s extraordinarily difficult, or even impossible.
After working in traditional microfinance, we made the jump to fintech to deliver solutions to the challenge of financial access at scale. Yet after 5+ years working at one of the world’s leading consumer finance companies, we saw that despite new technologies, the lending industry was still too transactional. Rates were far too high, terms too inflexible. This left little room for small businesses to create real wealth for themselves and their communities.
We started Jia to create something new - a system where all parties, borrowers and lenders, are rewarded for the value that they provide.
We believe in a fair and efficient new arrangement where everyone wins. What was previously impossible is now enabled by blockchain technology. We can fairly serve millions of business owners who were formerly unable to secure loans at affordable rates, while providing them with real ownership in the very system from which they are borrowing.
Pull up a chair and join us on our journey to unlock financial freedom across the globe.
Thanks, asante, salamat, धन्यवाद & 谢谢,
Zach & Cheng
