ZestMoney's Chapman has been in fintech before it became a rage, and has cracked the consumer market in her adopted home—India
Lizzie Chapman, CEO and Cofounder, ZestMoney
Image: Neha Mithbawkar for Forbes India
Lizzie Chapman has always loved India.
Growing up as a child of working-class parents in London, the 41-year-old would spend weekends mostly watching Hindi movies back to back, something that even her South Mumbai-bred husband hadn’t done all his life. Chapman’s connection with India came largely from her mother, who had worked with Red Cross in India, and it also helped that she lived in a part of London where more than half the population was South Asian.
That’s precisely why she didn’t have any qualms about moving to India a decade ago when many of her colleagues weren’t ready for the big gamble, even though they knew the fintech revolution in India was only starting out. “I was really fascinated and excited about the potential for what could happen in India, and it was clear 20 years ago that India was on the cusp of a big economic explosion,” Chapman tells Forbes India. “Many of my friends say that I took one of the biggest macro bets of all of us. While many were only talking, I packed my bags and came here.”
A microbiology graduate from the University of Edinburgh, Chapman’s trajectory turned to the world of financing and money largely due to her own struggles with money, particularly the lack of it. “I grew up with no money, I got quite fascinated by money at university and particularly trading. I came from a family that had never owned a stock and I found even with a small amount of money, I could make a lot of money,” Chapman says.
(This story appears in the 03 December, 2021 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)