# HIBT Lab! Tala: Shivani Siroya

- Show: [How I Built This](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this)
- Published: 2022-11-17
- Length: 34m
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya

## Summary

Shivani Siroya, founder of Tala, explains how her work with the UN Population Fund in Africa and India revealed that micro-entrepreneurs lacked credit histories despite having strong repayment potential. She describes manually lending her own savings to individuals like a tile maker named Seema to prove that daily life data could predict creditworthiness. Siroya details how Tala evolved from this manual process into a fintech app that uses mobile phone data to score and lend to underbanked populations in Kenya, India, the Philippines, and Mexico. The episode covers Tala's business model, its low default rates, and its goal of building a global financial ecosystem for the underserved.

## Chapters

- [0:00](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=0) Introduction: Shivani Siroya and the Credit Gap
- [2:05](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=125) UN Research and the Manual Lending Experiment
- [8:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=481) The Seema Case Study and Identifying the Problem
- [13:22](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=802) From Manual Loans to the Tala App Concept
- [19:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=1180) Tala's Data Strategy and Credit Scoring Mechanism
- [23:40](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=1420) Product Features, Repayment, and Business Model
- [26:54](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2022-11-17-hibt-lab-tala-shivani-siroya#t=1614) Profitability, Retention, and Future Vision

## Topics

- [Starting a product company](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/starting-a-company)
- [Validation & product-market fit](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/validation-and-product-market-fit)
- [Direct-to-consumer & e-commerce](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/direct-to-consumer)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)
- [Fundraising & investors](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/fundraising)

## Most relevant to

companies scaling up

## Mentioned

- Tala (company)
- United Nations Population Fund (company)
- Grameen (company)
- U.S. Bank (company)
- Google Play store (product)
- M-Pesa (product)
- GCash (product)
- 7-Eleven (company)

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- [How a Career in Manufacturing Prepares You for Entrepreneurship with Kiley Summers, Founder of SpenDebt](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/manufacturing-happy-hour/2020-10-06-how-a-career-in-manufacturing-prepares-you-for-entrepreneurship-with-kiley-summe) (Manufacturing Happy Hour)
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## Citing this page

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