In Episode 198 of the Fintech Chatter podcast, Dexter Cousins chats with Joel Yarbrough, CEO of Moment. Joel, an OG fintech leader, discusses his global journey with roles at PayPal, Grab, and now Moment, where he's tapping into Africa's vast fintech opportunities.
Dexter and Joel discuss the qualities of successful individuals in startup environments, emphasizing the importance of passion, collaboration, and a growth mindset.
Joel talks about the importance of giving back and building diverse teams, as well as the challenges of hiring in a rapidly changing market. He also provides insights into the future of Moment and the importance of being mission-driven in the business world.
Joel is a passionate leader whose love of technology drives him to deconstruct complex systems and rebuild them to solve real problems. He has spent most of my career helping strategise, design, product manage, and deliver multi-channel solutions in and around the intersections of financial services, commerce, and technology.
He's built a reputation as an evangelist and dot connector, working with partners to understand their strategies and solve their problems. The delight of leading product teams to make the vision a reality is a real joy.
Joel's core belief is that together we can make the world a better place - even if it's through our own enlightened self-interest. By doing things well, and being decent to each other we will all keep pushing to a brighter place together.
Moment is an integrated payments platform for Africa, incubated as a joint venture by MultiChoice, Rapyd, and General Catalyst. We connect businesses and consumers in over 40 African countries. We're able to do so through our broad network that aims to cover over 100 payment providers, 200 local payment methods, and 40 currencies.
Chapters
00:00. Introduction to Joel Yarbrough and Moment
05:42. The Unique Opportunity in Africa's Fintech Landscape
14:01. The Impact of Fintech on Personal Agency
19:44. Australia's Fintech Identity and Global Positioning
25:08. Understanding Human Capital in Startups
30:32. Passion vs. Mission-Driven Work
39:01. Navigating Hiring Challenges in a Changing Market
Links & Resources:
Subscribe Newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/fintech-leaders-7092732051488980992/
Connect on Linkedin: https://bit.ly/3DsCJBp
Peter Jones used to be the CEO he now sells to. It's helped him bootstrap a core banking platform that now holds 20% market share in Australia's mutual banking sector, without a dollar of outside capital. We are celebrating the World Credit Union Conference coming to Sydney. Dexter Cousins will be bringing you interviews from […]
Andy Taylor is Co-Founder of Stakk an embedded finance infrastructure solution. On 6 July 2026, ASX-listed Stakk Limited signed a definitive agreement to acquire US document intelligence firm ParaScript for US$63 million. I've interviewed Andy more than once over the past decade, way back when he was just starting to build Douugh out of Tank […]
When QED Investors, Blackbird, Square Peg and Airtree all back the same early-stage Australian AI startup, the funding round is news. What matters more for anyone hiring or being hired in fintech right now is why they all said yes, and what the founder behind it says about building and hiring in an AI native […]
Looking to scale your fintech leadership team? Start at tieronepeople.com Clayton Howes is the co-founder and CEO of MONEYME (ASX: MME), a Sydney-based non-bank lender that has originated over $5 billion in consumer credit since 2013 and manages a $1.9 billion loan book today. In this conversation, Clayton covers the full arc: bootstrapping without external […]
