IN this week’s Success: The Insight Story column, MoneyLion Inc co-founder and chief technology officer Foong Chee Mun (pix) talks to SunBiz.
How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
When I was growing up, my dad instilled in me a great work ethic and a love for science and mathematics. That directly translates to everything I do for my career.
My first job in an artificial intelligence (AI) human behaviour prediction research company introduced me to research and studies in social science. Since then, I am always wanting to innovate in the juncture of technology and human behaviour.
What traits do you look for in your talent or how do you decide who is right for a job?
We work in highly specialised disciplines from software design to AI to distributed database designs. We expect our talent to possess a certain level of hard skills based on their education or experience. Beyond that, I always gauge if I want to work for the person. If I am excited for the person to be my boss, then I can reasonably expect the person will lead others to work for him/her.
I know it is a cliche to say this, but the ability to learn is important as we are working on creating the future. That means that there are no textbooks telling us exactly what to do.
How do you think the industry you are in will evolve?
Data and AI are going to propel the industry to be more personalisable. Like Facebook, your financial app will have content and products customised specifically for you and your lifestyle. The advent of AI also means that the back office can be highly automated with high efficiency as well as feature more transparency and predictable decisioning.
The workforce is changing more rapidly than we have ever seen due to the innovations in the way we work. Companies such as Grab, Substack, and Shopee have completely changed the way we think “work” is. Stable incomes could well be a thing of the past. Therefore, financial institutions will have to adapt just as rapidly to be able to provide financial products for this new generation of gig workers and small merchants.
We all know about the industrial revolution, are we in for a technological revolution? Your thoughts.
Venture capital funding has been increasing for the last 10 years. This means more money is going into tech startup funding and, consequently, more talent are involved in these technology races. Technology is multiplicative. As more brains are working on it, the changes are going to be exponential.
We now see machine learning technologies that can write book reviews automatically and generate realistic images just based on text instructions. The applications of these breakthrough technologies are going to significantly change our lives from how we work to how we learn and how we get entertained.
Five years ago, we hardly heard about the gig economy, but it is now a big part of the economy. 10 years ago, we still needed to make expensive long-distance calls across countries. Nowadays WhatsApp and FaceTime calls have eliminated these expensive calls. We have supercomputers inside our phones that we use for our transport, food, and work.
Therefore, our future is only going to be further defined by technology and its betterment of society.
What do you want to accomplish in the next five years?
In 2013 we had an ambitious goal of combining AI, machine learning technology, and behavioural science with consumer finance. Fast forward to today, we serve over 3.9 million customers, are listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and are home to one of the largest AI teams in Kuala Lumpur with a headcount of almost 300.
At the end of 2021, we acquired Malka Media group, which enables us to create our own content through a network of thousands of creators who are athletes, celebrities, and influencers. This allows us to own an authentic conversation about the culture of money and reach segments of the population that have not been taught about financial services the right way.
Five years from now, I envision MoneyLion’s technology to positively transform the financial lives of tens of millions of people around the world and be better equipped to face their financial challenges by shifting from being in debt to investing in assets. I’d like to see thousands more Malaysians kickstart their careers in the field of AI and financial technology through our technology hub in Kuala Lumpur and hope to inspire many more local tech entrepreneurs to advance onto the global stage.
Best piece of advice you ever received on your career.
It is always easier to break up than to unite. A mentor once told me this and that has been the guiding principle when I am dealing with situations. Being able to work and organise in a group is powerful. Greatness is in the agency of others.
How do you stay abreast of issues affecting your industry?
I read the regular stable of newspapers that most of my peers read – Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Economist. Nowadays, following the right Substack authors can be informative as well. I also religiously listen to a few podcasts such as All-in and Lex Friedman.
What man-made innovation confounds you? Why?
Twitter. Its conceptually so simple yet I am completely addicted.
A must-read for every business owner/manager is ...
Zero to One by Peter Thiel.
Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christenson.
What are the top three factors you would attribute your success to?
1) Habitual learning.
2) The ability to learn and bounce back from mistakes.
3) Always falling back to framework thinking for decisions.