Olga Miler, Co-Founder at SmartPurse: Making Conversations About Money More Accessible To Women

SmartPurse aims to change the world of finance for women, making conversation and education around money more accessible and inclusive for all women, regardless of their financial position or life stage. SmartPurse is an award-winning virtual learning toolbox connecting women to each other and trusted, vetted money coaches. Inspiring women everywhere to build financial independence.

Over the past 10 years, we have built one of the largest global communities of women and have transformed many financial services companies.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
SmartPurse was created by myself, Olga Miler, and Jude Kelly CBE. I am a leading advisor on women’s finances and former global program and architect of UBS Wealth Management’s change programme for women. Jude has been voted the most powerful woman in the Arts and is also the founder of WOW – the Women of the World Festival.

After talking to thousands of women, we learned that there is no safe and welcoming space for women to discuss the money questions impacting their lives and to get practical help.

With a team of global thought leaders specialising in gender equality and finance, we set out to change that – to revolutionise the way women discuss and plan their money.

We have created a community of like-minded people where women can learn about how to better their financial situation, become more confident with finances and make their money work harder. In the face of a major economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, especially when it has been shown that women are carrying much of the financial impact of the pandemic to the economy, across their work, family and personal lives, overcoming financial confusion and expanding learning is something that seems more relevant now than ever before.
 

Tell us about your Money Rally event

 
At Money Rally: Money Madness, you can hear fun (and not so fun) money stories from inspirational women who don’t usually discuss money & pick up practical tips for what matters to us in life from fantastic experts.

Global singing star Charlotte Church, actor and national treasure Alison Steadman, and actor & Asian women’s rights activist Shobna Gulati will be discussing their money dreams, fears and experiences with Jude Kelly.

Disproportionately affecting women, the most common factors that have affected real people as we live through a very real recession, are going to be addressed by SmartPurse leaders. We seek to address the key areas that are affecting the real lives of people in the UK right now, during the Coronavirus pandemic, whilst most of us are living through our second government-enforced lockdown.

Money Rally ends with Four breakout sessions give you a choice of expert advice on the topics of investing with only £5, pension planning, divorce, and the juggle between motherhood & career.

Money Rally, which is proudly sponsored by  Pollinate, the FinTech Alliance & Stylist, begins live this Saturday 21st November at 10am GMT for 3 hours of funny, informative and practical money chat. We’ve paired unusual speakers and experts to explore money from different perspectives & walks of life.

The event will bring women together in a collaborative and supportive space to discuss with the audience on issues that affect women at all life stages, and to help find active solutions to their real life money problems.
 

What can we hope to see from SmartPurse in the future?

 
We recently won a significant angel investment, of £500,000 from a leading women’s rights campaigner and former executives from UBS and Goldman Sachs, to accelerate the growth of SmartPurse. We intend to hold Money Rally events as a frequent staple of the SmartPurse calendar, to create change for more people who want to become confident and in control of their financial lives and we are looking to increase the scale of the platform to reach a global audience.