Fintech One•On•One Manu Smadja of MPOWER Financing
Sep 7, 2023
32:49
Much has been written about the student loan challenges for domestic students in this country. But what about international students, those people coming to the U.S. to study for a Master's or Bachelor's program? There are few good loan alternatives for international students as they are ineligible for federal student loan programs.
My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Manu Smadja, the CEO and Co-Founder of MPOWER Financing. They are working to address this problem, providing affordable financing for international students looking to study at American and Canadian universities.
In this podcast you will learn:
- The hardship story that was the trigger for starting MPOWER.
- The biggest challenges for international students coming to this country.
- Why demand from international students is stronger than ever.
- Their mix of graduate and undergraduate students.
- How they are underwriting these people.
- Why the type of major is a critical data point in the underwriting process.
- How they approach loan pricing.
- The typical terms of an MPOWER student loan.
- What kind of documentation is needed to obtain a loan.
- What MPOWER does to help students beyond providing the loan.
- The percentage of these students that stay in the U.S. after graduation.
- Their experience with loan performance.
- How they are funding their loans.
- The scale they are at today.
- Why they decided to become a B-Corporation.
- Manu's vision for the future of MPOWER.
Connect with Manu on LinkedIn
Connect with MPOWER Financing on LinkedIn
Connect with Fintech One-on-One:
- Tweet me @PeterRenton
- Connect with me on LinkedIn
- Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes