In this episode of Innovate UK’s AI for Services 2025 series, Tynah Matembe walks through how her personal journey—from moving to the UK and facing financial vulnerability to founding MoneyMatiX—shaped her mission to make financial knowledge accessible and practical. The conversation connects high-level inclusion goals with real, everyday money decisions that affect people across demographic groups.
Tynah’s Background & the Roots of Financial Exclusion
Tynah explains her transition from law into financial services and how a lack of credit history in the UK exposed vulnerabilities, even for someone with financial resources. That experience drove her to focus on education and support for others—including young people, migrants, and families—who face similar barriers.
She highlights:
→ The reliance on credit files in the UK as a barrier for newcomers who are cash-based in origin economies.
→ Intersectional factors (migration, ethnicity, gender, disability) that compound exclusion.
→ Financial education as a tool that enables agency rather than anxiety around money.
Three-Pronged Approach to Financial Inclusion
Tynah lays out how MoneyMatiX tackles financial exclusion:
1. Community-level engagement: Hands-on money management skills and practical budgeting support.
2. Partnering with organisations for inclusion by design: Working with institutions (government, academic, financial) to ensure services consider diverse customer journeys and remove hidden barriers.
3. Policy and advocacy: Influencing frameworks so financial inclusion moves beyond rhetoric into measurable shifts that benefit excluded groups.
Participants also discuss data bias: legacy systems can produce skewed results by wrongly linking socioeconomic indicators with poverty or worthiness, and inclusivity isn’t just a checkbox—it’s about lived experience and structural touchpoints.
Making Financial Education Approachable
The conversation stresses cultural attitudes toward money and how they shape financial confidence. Tynah describes initiatives like Money, Munch and Music, where discussions about money happen in relaxed settings with food and music to make financial concepts feel approachable and relevant.
She also highlights:
→ Youth money camps that turn budgeting and problem-solving into interactive group challenges.
→ Intentional framing of money as something to be understood and shaped, not feared.
What This Means for Businesses and Innovators
For organizations building AI-driven financial services, the episode offers clear guidance:
→ Design for real user journeys rather than idealized profiles
→ Treat data ethics as a product decision
→ Pair AI innovation with human-centered education
Financial inclusion grows when systems respect lived experience as much as technical efficiency.
Key Takeaways
→ Financial exclusion often originates from system design choices
→ Lived experience provides critical insight for inclusive services
→ AI magnifies both access and bias depending on implementation
→ Education works best when grounded in everyday realities
→ Collaboration across community, industry, and policy creates lasting impact
4 mins
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