Finance in Motion: Enhancing Efficiency Through Automation

An Interview with Matteo Snidero, IT Director at Finance in Motion

Finance in Motion executes multiple functions and projects in developing countries to raise funds and contribute to social and environmental development. The scope of these projects varies from microfinance and small business development to energy and resource efficiency, biodiversity conservation, and climate action. Other than the funding and management of these projects, Finance in Motion also provides the needed technical infrastructure to ensure smooth and seamless processes. The company’s line of work covers different areas, such as investment management, technical assistance, risk management, impact and sustainability, sector specialization, general fund services, and regional market presence. 

Thank you for joining us today. To get started, could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Finance in Motion? 

My name is Matteo Snidero and I'm the IT Director of Finance in Motion. In this role, I oversee three units here: an IT operation  and cybersecurity unit, a project management unit, and an IT solution unit, that  develops IT solutions and applications onto two technical stacks and integrates external applications into our technical ecosystem.  

Moving on, can you tell us about Finance in Motion and its mission?

Finance in Motion is an original impact manager with an unmatched 15 years track record of impact investment. We've been doing impact investment before it was even a thing. We invest in climate action, in social  change, in high growth geographies and transition economies. The key to our success is uniting local expertise with German Leadership. From Latin America to Central Europe, we work with local experts and scout investees that other investors cannot reach. Our local experts enhance every aspect of the investment life cycle, from origination all the way to monitoring. They also provide consultancy so that capacity can be further enhanced and built into the organization in which we invest.

Tell us about your collaborations with VOLO.

We've been successfully collaborating with VOLO for almost 4 years. We started timidly with a  relatively simple project to track the investment into our funds. It was developed on our legacy platform of MS SQL and .NET Core and Angular. Back then we actually regarded VOLO simply as a provider of software developers. But later, we engaged in several more complex projects. First, there was the migration of one of our core systems, then the announcement of another application, and now the collaboration is much tighter on what we consider our signature project, our magnum opus, that is a complex solution at the core of Finance in Motion’s DNA that is impact measurement.  

What was the vendor selection process like? How did you choose VOLO? 

Of course, the process to land on VOLO was extremely rigorous. I think, if I remember correctly, we considered more than 30 companies in the ENI region: Ukraine, Belarus and Armenia. And we met the management of at least 10 of these companies. We were very impressed with how thriving the region was and how advanced it was technologically. The competition was extremely fierce, but what impressed us in VOLO was its no-nonsense attitude. VOLO struck us as extremely genuine, hard-working, and very much solution-oriented. It was really refreshing to sit down with the management team, with Armen and Artak. The connection was established almost immediately.

Did you have any preconceptions about VOLO?

We were very concerned about the geopolitical risks. This risk, actually, partially materialized both in the invasion of Ukraine and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. But we trusted VOLO’s capacity to mitigate these geopolitical risks. And I must say that they managed them brilliantly.

How do you approach overcoming challenges?

Our internal development team is spread between Frankfurt and Nairobi in Kenya. To this, we  added an Armenian team. Therefore, I cannot think of a more complex constellation to open up for cultural misunderstandings. Fortunately, our team is very international and we're all experienced international professionals with international careers, and therefore, we are kind of alerted to the possible dangers of such distributed teams. Therefore, since the beginning we have promoted a very extra high-bandwidth communication among all the team members with frequent meetings and interactions. This mitigated all the dangers of cultural misunderstanding and miscommunication and therefore guaranteed from the very beginning a very fruitful collaboration. And I must say that the VOLO team onboarded very quickly and effectively. Probably it has to do with the fact that we're sharing beyond the English language, also the language of C# and SQL, that breaks every barrier.  

What has your overall experience of working with VOLO been like? 

We started with a short-term engagement that turned into a four-year relationship by now. We look at VOLO as much more than a simple provider of software developers, and we look at them whenever we lack skills and expertise in any field of technology. VOLO recently helped us set up the business analysis function, they helped us with project management, and now they're also venturing into other technology stacks beyond the original ones. Additionally, VOLO is now sitting in every software design session with us. So, they've really accompanied us into our ups and downs, and they really followed the evolution of a rather dynamic company like Finance in Motion, and we really see them as part of our internal team by now.

Parting Thoughts

The lasting partnership of Finance in Motion with VOLO has played a crucial role in the company’s further development, helping them navigate the challenges of impact management and investment with more ease and flexibility. As Mr. Snidero mentioned, even the geopolitical issues did not hinder the expansion and growth of our collaboration. 

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