Empower HR PODCAST August 24 2023

OFC Podcast Radio

Guest Jean Kouadio is a husband, father of 3 kids and lives in Canada, Montréal since 2012

“Born in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) in 1980, where I spent my first 18 years of life, I then flew to France for university. After 15 years in France, I decided to move to Canada with my family after receiving an offer from a Canadian bank. In total I spent approximately 25 years in the field of information technology applied to financial markets, with experience in countries such as France, UK, Italy, Canada, and the US.

Throughout this journey, the challenges I faced as a newcomer were generally the same: get a roof over one’s head, understand the job market, and access to financing. This last point left a bad taste in my mouth upon arriving in Canada. Although I was a bank employee, it was difficult for me to obtain a simple credit card, which is important to start building credit. Immigrants who are courted in their home countries like kings arrive here and run into a wall when it comes to finance.

I salute the efforts of advocacy groups and communities that contribute to improve the relationship between immigrants/diaspora and financial institutions. However, I do believe we also need alternatives that can offer real solutions for us and could later compete against banks.

This is what motivated me when I founded Financement Marfil Inc. back in 2018, a personal loan service with a mission to serve this community. With our pedigree as individuals from the diaspora, we are well positioned to understand the needs of our people so we can serve them with dignity.”

All on today's Empower Hour.