Martha Sazon leads the Philippines-based financial institution GCash which has more than 94 million female users.

Launched in 2004, GCash began as an SMS-based money transfer service for unbanked Filipinos. Users could deposit money into their ewallets for a small transaction fee at convenience stores and shops, then use that e-cash to make purchases on their phones. GCash services have grown and now include credit, debit and credit, and are used in 16 countries and territories.

GCash is owned by Mynt, a fintech company that started in 2015 as a partnership between Globe, the largest mobile company in the Philippines, and Ant Group, which is affiliated with Alibaba. Together, the shares of these firms make up about 70% of Mynt. Ayala Corp., the Philippine conglomerate that owns Globe, has a separate stake that recently increased to 13%. GCash is now valued at $5 billion after Japan’s largest lender, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, acquired an 8% stake for $393 million in early August. Mynt also has Fuse, a lending app.

Martha Sazon, ranked No. 38 on the list of the Most Powerful Women in Asia this year, joined Mynt as president and CEO in June 2020. GCash’s popularity increased during the pandemic as Filipinos avoided holding cash. More than half of GCash users are women, and almost all of them have low or middle income.

How does your experience at previous companies fit into GCash?

season: I was with Globe for about 13 years before I came to GCash, but before that I was in different industries. I was at a local company, Del Monte Foods, then I went to GlaxoSmithKline. My background in FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] and the telco helped me a lot with my adjustment to GCash because in GCash we deal with money, so any industry that involves money is related to GCash. The telco industry is also very complex, so that helped me a lot in terms of how fast-paced the business is. Fintech is very fast, however, and I think a lot because it’s a sunrise industry, a lot of new players are coming in, and regulations keep changing. The penetration of digitalization is increasing, therefore, the behavior is also changing.

About 57% of GCash users are women, according to Globe data. What is GCash’s appeal to women?

Financial inclusion itself is about serving the underserved, and many of the underserved in the Philippines are from the lower economic class, and many are women as well. But it’s not just about gender; GCash is also for low-income families and those outside Metro Manila. It’s no surprise that a large proportion of the organization is run by women, who make up 40% of the leadership team.

How has this diversity helped GCash reach the underserved?

We have a service called Gigs which is a partnership with Raket.ph [an independent talent marketplace in the Philippines]which brings together opportunities and job seekers in the gig economy. That was thought of by the new staff here, because someone in my generation is used to a normal job. [Another example] that is, women who were traditional housewives are now able to earn money even at home through e-commerce. They can buy and sell through their Lazada [e-commerce] stores or Facebook Market, and accept and accept payments with GCash. So what used to be a job selling the body can now be done while taking care of the family.

One of our research findings also found that while men are often the breadwinners in the household, women are the ones managing the budget and trying to support themselves. So if they need to borrow money because the man’s salary is not enough, it is women who make that decision, and it is women who distribute education, food and electricity.

Has GCash helped Filipinos working overseas, especially with the rise of smartphones?

Yes, now there is better financial management. One of the saddest things we’ve heard from overseas workers is that they try to save and send money home only to find the money they sent has been lost. Now, with GCash, they are taking back control; they can pay their own electricity bills, for example.

What advice do you have for women who aspire to be in leadership positions?

Know yourself, and know what you are good at, and know what you need to work on. And then dream big. Don’t be limited by what you can wish and what you can dream, because everything starts with that. The reason I go around in interviews or interviews is because I want to be a role model for women. I’m trying to train women in leadership positions, so that young people, when they see me, or women like me, say, “Oh, I want to be like her.” It’s a reality for them, because it helps people realize their dreams.

This article appears in the October/November 2024 issue of Good luck titled “Unlocking Filipinos to Mobile Banking.”