kill switch The App Where Strangers Lend Each Other Money | What’s Your Problem? Podcast
Dec 31, 2025
Nina Mohanty, the innovative founder and CEO of Bloom, dives into the world of communal finance, transforming traditional savings practices for modern use. She shares insights on the challenges immigrants face with credit access and how age-old rotating savings systems, like Roscas, offer unique solutions. Nina discusses building a successful app that fosters trust among strangers, the hurdles of fundraising in fintech, and her vision for expanding financial opportunities for immigrant communities. Her passion for financial inclusion shines through as she explores the future of money.
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Roscas Are A Global, Ancient Financial Tech
- Rotating savings and credit associations (Roscas) are a global, thousand-year financial technology used across cultures.
- Nina Mohanty realized Roscas solve immigrant banking problems by leveraging communal trust rather than formal credit histories.
Grandmother's Village Rosca Example
- Nina describes her grandmother running a 10-person pot where everyone paid 100 rupees and one woman received 1,000 rupees each month.
- The pool rotated so each member received the lump sum once over the ten-month cycle.
Same Practice, Many Names Worldwide
- Rosca-like practices appear across Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean under many names and persist among diasporas.
- Their cross-cultural prevalence shows communal financial tools fill gaps left by formal banking systems.