Women BUIDLing CoinSwitch

The year is 2022, and there is a dearth of women in Finance.

India has a lot of men but a lot more when it comes to Finance and Technology. Only 21 were women out of every 100 investors in the country in 2021, according to data by BrokerChooser.

Nonetheless, when 20-year-old Farheen Shaikh decided to join CoinSwitch in her stint as a Writer and an Investor, she had no legacy issues plaguing her ambitions. In a calm and eloquent manner, she says, “joining a crypto FinTech seemed natural to me; I was interested in what was going on, and the atmosphere was very warm and welcoming.”

It would be naive to conclude that the tides are shifting for good. But Farheen joins 157 other superwomen at CoinSwitch who are at the forefront of buidl-ing what we consider India’s next big ‘equitable’ wealth tech company.

Of Women, By Women, For Women

Despite the challenges of a male-dominant investment arena, female participation is increasing, albeit cautiously. CoinSwitch witnessed an annual increase of nearly 600% among women investors on the platform.

Interestingly, many of these women entrants are also early participants in the unraveling technological shift towards Web 3.0. At the same time, there is an abundance of unrealized talent, particularly among women, in the space.

Thus, CoinSwitch saw an opportunity to kill two birds in one stone – actively build a leadership pipeline for women within CoinSwitch to develop and lead tomorrow’s technology.

And there we go. Meet the first four-woman hires of CoinSwitch.

“Let’s Give Something New a Try”

Today, Crypto is a well-known asset class with over 20 million Indians invested in it.

But it was considered wildly risky when Swati Brahma jumped from a corporate job to a crypto startup in 2018. It was a time when crypto had more skeptics than believers.

‘The risks have paid off; It is a journey worth reliving,’ recounts Swati. Besides being the first woman employee, she is also the first-ever employee to set foot at CoinSwitch, a 500+ strong organization today. When reminded of this fact, she gleames with pride.

Currently, Swati is a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Business Operations after running multiple shows focussed on customer-friendly services at CoinSwitch.

When asked what keeps her going despite 4+ relentless years (a long period considering the industry is just over a decade old), she says the ‘trust’ the founders and the team have placed in her.

‘Their trust in me to do the job independently has been empowering,’ she adds.

Combining Passion with Success

Dinshaw Kothari is a lead engineer at CoinSwitch with a pretty enviable vitae and a strong portfolio. She was practically building and investing in Crypto even before the slangs BUIDL and HODL became a thing.

Not surprisingly, she was the first female hire for the Engineering team at CoinSwitch.

“At CoinSwitch, just the scale of things excites me. When I joined, we were celebrating 1 million users. And today, within a couple of months, we’ve touched 15 million,” Dinshaw said. The freedom of startup culture, access to the larger scheme of things, due recognition for hard work, and a receptive environment are a few things that keep her going.

And of course, she is passionate about the blockchain industry and takes pride in what’s being built at CoinSwitch. “Blockchain is a promising technology. There is always something new happening. There is so much to learn, keep up, and share with the world,” she adds.

Four years into the industry and working with two different exchanges, she believes women are better suited to invest in crypto assets. “Maybe because women are attached to big gains,” she reasons jokingly.

Data First, Everything Next

In her free time, Monica Reddy is caught juggling between cycling, strength training, and binge-watching K-dramas. But at work, she is busy fixing bugs and crunching numbers as a Data Analyst to help CoinSwitch adopt a user-centered approach.

Straight off from college, Monica landed her first job as an intern at CoinSwitch. “The transition from college to work was nothing like I expected. It was shockingly easy, people were super-friendly and fun to work with,” she recalls.

Little had she imagined that the next two and half years at CoinSwitch would put her in the middle of multiple tools handling different tasks and closely working with the founders while owning a ton-load of data.

Still early in her career, Monica is excited about the prospects that lie ahead – both in the space of Data Science and Crypto. “The opportunity to try out different things and the conducive environment to learn and grow has been empowering,” says Monica.

She eagerly looks forward to a life without masks, and precious chai breaks with colleagues-turned-friends at the office.

Reinventing Herself

Unless asked, Farheen Shaikh abstains from mentioning her age as people are usually baffled. Recently turned 21, Farheen believes that age, gender, and other identities have little to no relevance to Crypto.

“Crypto is a new industry. Thus, it is much easier for the younger generation, particularly Gen Z, to enter the space irrespective of gender,” she notes.

Farheen has been with CoinSwitch for more than a year and a half and has seen the organization grow from a handful of them to a large-sized startup while closely witnessing its ups and downs. 

“In many ways, my journey at CoinSwitch has shaped my personality. I was an introvert just out of college when I joined here. But my responsibilities have forced me to be outgoing, and I like it,” she adds. Currently, she is working in the creative space tasked with curating top-notch content for CoinSwitch. 

She recalls that a possible advantage was that all her immediate managers were women, which put her at ease. “The leadership has been a motivating factor for me., and there was always someone to look up to.”

The Wrap 

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (March 8), we celebrate all the women at CoinSwitch who are buidl-ing for millions of aspirational investors in the country, particularly women. 

We commend the community of women innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors striving hard to make the future of FinTech a just and equitable place. ‘Women buidl-ing for women’ can be the only way to reach nearly half of India’s potential investors and empower them.