Business Leaders - Ren Yi Hooi

Ren Yi Hooi is the founder and chief executive of Lightning Social Ventures. Founded in 2020, the startup works with charities and public sector organisations to accelerate support to those in financial hardship. With a global background in Fintech, Ren worked previously as product director and director of financial inclusion at Railsbank, a rapidly scaling open finance platform. In this in-depth conversation, Ren recalls her career journey so far and how she started Lightning Social Ventures to “use business to play a role in making this a fairer world;” discusses the company and how using tech allows them to support people much more quickly and effectively than traditional financial support; and shares her future plans to take the business outside of the UK as “hardship is a global problem” that needs an effective solution.