Quotezone FinTech Scholars Crowned
Financial comparison platform Quotezone.co.uk has announced the winners of this year's Fintech Scholarship, an initiative designed to cultivate more diversity in the sector by encouraging students from outside the world of fintech to explore what it might offer.
Only one winner was chosen from Scotland - Kelsey Hunt, a second-year student at St Andrews University, who wrote Fintech and Small Business: a Dynamic Duo - explaining how fintech plays a vital role in small businesses. In addition, one winner was chosen from England - Ella Henry, a MPhil student at the University of Cambridge studying Biological Sciences, who wrote a piece entitled - Fintech in a finite world: The price of protecting our planet focusing on climate change and the role fintech can play in creating a sustainable future. Ella and Kelsey have both won a bursary of £1,000 to help with educational fees, such as textbooks and course materials.
With 15 universities teaching bespoke fintech courses, over 175 fintech startup success stories, and a wealth of investment opportunities from public, private, and academic investors, Scotland has been hailed as a global leading fintech hub. Stephen Ingledew from FinTech Scotland comments: “Encouraging participation from the diversity of young people across our communities will further spur fintech innovation in all aspects of our personal and business lives, thereby ensuring an inclusive approach to the economic opportunities ahead.”
British fintech firms continue to attract lucrative international investment, having just hit the multibillion-pound peak of investor interest in July 2021. In 13 UK cities, there are now at least ten fintech companies, estimated to employ nearly 53,000 people.
Marja Lahelma-Barnsley, Programme Leader for MSc Financial Technology at Manchester Metropolitan University, comments: “FinTech is reshaping the ways that financial needs are met. Man Met’s FinTech qualifications are built with a recognition that innovation needs new ideas even more than it needs new tech.
Greg Wilson, the fintech entrepreneur behind Quotezone.co.uk, comments: “Congratulations to our Fintech Scholarship winners, Kelsey Hunt and Ella Henry – these insightful blogs were just two of many interesting entries in their year's scholarship.
“It’s encouraging to see so many students proactively researching and discovering fintech – from all educational backgrounds. Diversity is key to building an innovative team for the future. I studied Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering and started my career as a Stress Engineer at Bombardier Aerospace before I created Seopa, now our brands CompareNI.com and Quotezone.co.uk are household names in financial comparison technology.”
Seopa has been recognised with six Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Awards, and has been awarded a Deloitte Best Managed Company Award each year for the past five years – now a Gold Standard Best Managed Company since 2020. As a leading fintech employer, Seopa has been investing in recruitment throughout lockdown, with new fintech roles currently available.
