For some, starting off humble means a standard job in the local cafe. For Lissele, it meant growing up in a council flat in London and, at one point in her childhood, sleeping on the floor above a noisy bar in Bangkok. Those early contrasts shaped her relationship with security, resilience and ambition – long before she entered the world of fintech.

Growing up on the edge of London, Lissele’s financial career began at the age of 19 in the capital’s wallet: the City of London. Known for being ‘the heart of the financial district’, the City is home to some of the biggest finance firms in the UK. 

“I started right at the bottom to work my way up and it was brutal. I was making 200 cold calls a day,” says Lissele of the career step that served as a vital foundation for her entrepreneurship. 

Starting her fintech journey at a young age was the beginning of a career, but it was not the beginning of Lissele’s working journey. Forming skills at just 16, she carried over lessons from her first business, selling jewellery at Camden Market. 

“I learned discipline from a young age having to wake up at 5am every day during the summer holidays while all my friends were sleeping. Because obviously in summer holidays, kids don't want to wake up at 5am – it's way too early,” she explains.

Why attitude is everything

Inspired by the lessons learned from being a young entrepreneur, Lissele founded Capitalixe in 2019 after spotting a gap in the market. According to Lissele, the value of a healthy mindset cannot be undervalued, especially in business.

Attitude is everything – and it’s what inspired Lissele to take her biggest risk. 

“I can achieve whatever I want if I put in the work and train my mind,” she says. “I knew I always wanted to be a very successful business entrepreneur.”

Lissele developed the idea for Capitalixe when working as a junior broker, recognising that companies were being underserviced, stunting their growth opportunities. 

“At 23, I spotted a gap in the market to serve the underserviced industries, and that's when my business, Capitalixe, was born,” she explains. “I look back now and realise it’s a little crazy to actually think that a 23-year-old who didn't go to university, with only a few years of experience in finance, could actually just set up her own company in the industry.” 

Acting as a financial matchmaker, Capitalixe pairs underserved companies, usually with high-risk needs, to reliable infrastructure. Pairing is only half of the company’s remit, however, as Lissele’s work also covers several other key areas. 

“I oversee a lot of the marketing stuff in the business,” she says. “I actually built the marketing team from scratch. I’ve also taken the initiative on building up the partnerships side of the business – the providers. So, I'm networking and building relationships with a lot of new providers around the world. When I go to conferences, I'm meeting new providers to understand what their capabilities are, negotiating contracts, and onboarding with them.”

In addition to scoping out business opportunities, Lissele is also adept at spotting solutions. By helping helping medium- and high-risk industries to obtain reliable and trustworthy payments and banking services, she helps make an actionable difference in the industry 

Lissele comments: “When [companies] say, ‘why didn't I know about you before?’ – that's like a pat on the back to know that I've set up the right business. That makes me feel really good, knowing I have the right solutions and I’m solving real problems.”

Capitalixe currently processes £1bn a month through the providers it works with, supporting its mission to grow financial institutions by pairing them with trustworthy banking and payments services. 

A raft of solutions

While focusing on solutions for businesses, Lissele’s experience gives her unique perspective of advancements in fintech.

One key area is the growing reliance on AI, which, in plenty of cases, is being used to support vital functions across the fintech sector. Providing benefits including rapid processing ability, AI ensures financial institutions are no longer playing catch-up when it comes to fraud. 

Lissele explains: “Traditionally, companies had to manually check everything, a process that was very reliant on humans. It was susceptible to human error. But when you have a machine that can consume vast amounts of data far quicker than a human can, you are able to spot anomalies far quicker as well – any suspicious activity or transactions happening get instantly flagged and handled very quickly.

“Previously, companies would experience a lot of delays, but because of AI, they're able to help speed up the payments a lot quicker. The onboarding can happen a lot quicker as well.”

Specifically, Lissele notes there’s a huge potential for transforming manual processes in the know-your-customer (KYC) space, especially at a time when manual processes pose a complex banking challenge: “I feel like this is also the next revolution that's happening in the industry – AI in onboarding, compliance, transaction monitoring, fraud detection and everything like that. 

“Traditionally, companies had to manually check everything, so it was very reliant on humans. It was susceptible to human error. AML and AI monitoring – we're going to see a huge wave. Companies are going to be onboarded a lot quicker and transactions will go more smoothly.”

Payments: what happens before AI?

Despite what Lissele terms as a “wave” of AI coming to revolutionise workflows, she believes some more traditional steps are still important, highlighting that digitalisation communication was often one of the most important business tools. 

“Clarity is everything in payments,” she says, “If you are vague, especially during onboarding, you are most likely going to get rejected. You need to be transparent and very clear with your flow of funds – the purpose of the payments, where they are going and where they are coming from. The clearer and more transparent you are, the smoother compliance is going to be with providers.”

While AI is becoming a top priority for most financial institutions, Lissele predicts that collaboration could be the ultimate way to get ahead in the game. Uniting banks and fintechs could result in the delivery of a safer and simpler payments ecosystem. 

Lissele notes: “We’re also going to see a lot more banks and fintech companies partnering. If banks want to stay ahead, they need to be collaborative rather than competing. The changes will be driven by whoever makes payments simpler, safer and scalable across borders without cutting corners.”

Everyone likes the idea of faster payments, from businesses needing small loans to consumers aching for payday. Financial institutions are rising to the demand, with Lissele clarifying that she’s “seeing a lot of instant payments and alternative payment methods becoming a lot more popular”.

She continues: “Typically, payments from the UK to Africa or Latin America can take three to five days to reach via the Swift network. It’ll be really exciting if Swift can create an instant payment system; that would be a game-changer for them.”

Looking at the next wave of payment innovation requires financial institutions to develop to the next generation of entrepreneurs first. Playing a key role in this, Lissele aims to inspire other women on their fintech journeys, supporting women-owned businesses. 

“I would say, ‘dream big, make a plan and take action’. Everything's about taking action. Start before you’re ready. Confidence doesn't come before you start; it comes when you start taking action every single day. Be consistent and have your eyes on the prize.”