The majority of population have always been frugal with their personal spending and eager to save, though we are often hesitant to invest due to our lack of financial literacy. Despite passing on this monetary ignorance to future generations, we Indians have managed to keep the recent global economic recession at bay, owing to our prudence when it comes to the cost of living per family. This may be our panacea for rising inflation, but it will not help us in the long run unless we teach our children to be financially wise—literate, learned, independent, and responsible.
According to Raj Sankar Senapati, the Vice President-Digital payments & Neobanking of Tijoree, there is an innovative solution to the problem of financial illiteracy in our age-old tradition of keeping a Piggy bank, a pedagogical device to teach the rudiments of thrift and saving to children.
Adept Leadership Acumen
Raj himself has over 15 years of experience in Sales, Business Operations, Channel Development, Strategy Planning, Marketing/Business Development, Key Account Management, and People Management. This requires a deep understanding of critical business drivers.
Raj demonstrated skills in manpower planning, root-cause analysis, and collaboration with key corporate. Raj held various positions like National Head (Franchise Business) at The Knowledge Hub; Associate-VP, Channel Development at SLONKIT (Neo Banking and Prepaid Cards); Business Head- Prepaid Cards at YouFirst Ventures Pvt Ltd; Head, Prepaid Cards & Wallet at Financepeer; before joining Tijoree in August 2022.
His deftness in designing and implementing competent strategies thereby enhancing market reach and penetration for business excellence is his forte. Additionally, with excellent interpersonal skills with cross-cultural sensitivity in diverse and multicultural teams make him an adept leadership persona and the winner of ‘Rising Star Digital Leader of the Year’ in Fintech category, awarded by Quantic India in Apr 2022.
Let’s know Raj better: On a cup of coffee
Revealing his interests and personal details while sharing a cup of coffee, Raj informs that he is a huge fan of Roger Federer. And he would like to only live in India, because, “Sare Jahan Se Achha Hindostaan Hamara!” He also says that his biggest fear is God and his favourite family vacation is ‘Char Dham Yatra,’ with his family. When asked what would he change about himself if he could, he says it would be adopting “early to bed, early to rise” habit. He says that his passion is what motivates him to work hard, while Not honoring commitments really makes him angry.
Continuing on his personal interview, Raj shares that Three Horsemen of the New Apocalypse is his favorite book to read, while the character of Mr Bean makes him laugh the most.
Recently he watched Avatar: The Way of Water and thought that it was Mind-blowing. Then reflecting back, he says that when he was kid, he wished to play tennis with Steffi Graf. And if he could choose to do anything for a day, he would play the Wimbledon final against Roger Federer at the Centre Court. Of course, Tennis is his favorite game or sport to watch and play and he would prefer driving a sports car to ride a bike or ride a horse. He also says that he would sing ‘I Wanna Be Sedated….’ at Karaoke night. If he is given choices of washing dishes, mowing the lawn, or cleaning the bathroom, he would vacuum the house.
For all of cleaning, cooking, or yard work he would hire someone to help him. When asked, “If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Raj says, “Very difficult to say, but may be an authentic south Indian thali.”
And his favorite author is Nirad C. Chaudhuri, favorite actors are Dwayne Johnson and Angelina Jolie, and favorite sportsperson are Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Maria Sharapova and Ronaldo Nazário
Further, Fintech and Digital payments are his favorite thing about his career. And his proudest accomplishment is being part of the journey & leading the team in the launching of world’s first numberless photo prepaid card.
Smart Personal FinTech Learning
Raj says that there is a need for the kind of prepaid cards where parents can set spending limits for their children, add money using any payment method and automate the process, view their Child’s Transaction History at any time, and lock & unlock the card with a single click at any point of time.
He further states that the Card must be Personalized and Eco-Friendly. If lost one can hotlist it instantly and become worry-free.
Raj says when the entire nation is moving towards cashless economy, we should educate our future citizens on smart money management skills right from the beginning in their childhood so that we can instill the digital payments & financial wisdom habits to achieve our Prime Minister’s dream of cashless society. With this the future generation will learn to spend, save and allocate money wisely!”
He concludes, “Be passionate and work hard, there is no shortcut to success.”
