Sawa Credit Inc. Announces Appointment of Five Board Members
Thought Leaders and Nobel Prize Winner Join Startup Addressing Wealth Disparity
OAKLAND, Calif., April 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Sawa Credit Inc, the venture-backed startup creating a first-of-its-kind community financial support platform, today announced the appointment of five board members: Marla Blow, North America lead at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth; David Brady, Deputy Director and Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution; Charles Hudson, Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures; Michael Spence, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences and former dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Brian Trelstad, Partner at Bridges Fund Management and a Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School.
"We are proud to welcome these five incredible thought leaders to the board," says Charles Phillips, CEO of Sawa. "Their diverse backgrounds will fuel our learning as we build an on-ramp to wealth that will transform generations."
Sawa uses behavioral science to create a community support system for borrowers to increase their financial literacy, facilitate saving, and improve access to emergency capital, thus addressing wealth disparity. It is backed by Precursor Ventures with additional funding from Commerce Ventures, Slow Ventures, Allegis Capital, and Clear Heights Ventures.
"If we can solve the problem of financial solvency inequality with behavioral economics and behavioral finance, this will be a genuine innovation," says Michael Spence. "If this community model works, it will be powerful and increase access to credit for these communities."
"This is an exciting new approach with a focus on community," says David Brady. "We don't know of anyone doing anything like this."
Marla Blow is the North America lead at the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. Previously, she was Founder and CEO of FS Card Inc. and was part of the Implementation Team to stand up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
David Brady is the Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science in the Stanford Graduate School of Business and held the Morris M. Doyle Centennial Chair in Public Policy (emeritus). He is Deputy Director and Davies Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of dozens of books about political economics.
Charles Hudson is Managing Partner and Founder of Precursor Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the first institutional round of investment for the most promising software and hardware companies. Prior to founding Precursor Ventures, Charles was at SoftTech VC, Bionic Panda Games, Serious Business (acquired by Zynga), Gaia Interactive, Google, and InQTel.
Michael Spence is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution and the Philip H. Knight Professor of Management, Emeritus, and Dean, Emeritus at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He is a co-recipient of the 2001 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
Brian Trelstad is a partner at Bridges Fund Management's Sustainable Growth Fund, an impact investing fund that invests in health, education, and environmental services businesses and co-chair of Impact Capital Managers. He is also a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School. Previously, he was Chief Investment Officer of the Acumen Fund.
About Sawa Credit Inc.: Sawa is a first-of-its-kind community platform helping underserved borrowers build financial health. We tap the power of community to help users increase their capacity so they can avoid delinquency and defaults and get and stay in their homes — all while reducing risk for lenders and borrowers. Leveraging behavioral science, Sawa is a venture-backed startup founded by industry-leading fintech and business experts.
Media Contact: Andy Anderegg
[email protected]
(800) 420-6153
SOURCE Sawa Credit Inc.
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