Lily Lapenna | MyBnk

Lily Lapenna is the Founder and CEO of the award winning social enterprise, MyBnk. At MyBnk, Lily has created the first ever independent, peer-led, youth banking scheme approved by the FSA, the national banking regulatory body in the UK

Lily was made a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum along with only one other UK woman and at the end of March 2011, she has being inducted into the Ashoka Fellowship.

1)Who are you, Lily, and what drives you?

Hi, I'm Lily. I founded an all-consuming amazing social enterprise called MyBnk in 2007. MyBnk builds young people's knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their money effectively, and to make enterprising choices throughout their lives. We have worked with nearly 30,000 young people across London and are now expanding nationwide using a social franchise model.

I am driven by the need for us all to access financial education so that we can navigate the ever-growing maze of financial services and make them work for rather than against us.  So we don't fall into the trap of spiralling debt but use money as a great enabler.

Money is the one interaction we have on a daily basis and yet no one sets us up for it: that makes me angry and that's why I love the work we do at MyBnk and I like to see how it is changing peoples lives.

I am driven by the energy of the MyBnk team and by all the young people we work with daily, they are our innovators and my role is to make sure when they think of MyBnk they think "wow, I want to learn more about money"

2) What change do you bring about and how are you doing it?

In a nutshell, we are trying to create a shift in attitudes towards money and forge enterprising citizens! Our fun and focussed programmes arms youths with the skills, knowledge and confidence to deal with money effectively and through 24 peer-led micro finance schemes we bring this know how to life with loans and support. Liberating, entrepreneurial, amazing.

3) Top 3 Tips to a woman who tries to make change locally and globally.

- learn by walking: don't wait till you know how to do things to get started, start and learn as you walk. Learn something new everyday and do something with it the next day.

- fail, forward, fast: don't be afraid of failing it is the best way to learn but it is important to move forward and to do it fast. Don't dwell on failure.

- listen listen listen: to what your team and to what your users are not saying to you! the more your team grows and the further removed you become from your participants/users the more carefully you need to listen. Listen internally more than externally, people on the outside will always want to influence you, however it is your people on the inside who often have the ideas and the solutions.

and number 4 is a must: have fun with it...

4) What networks work best for you?

- Ogunte of course, Servane works for me!

- Twitter and facebook for spreading the MyBnk Buzz but also to stay connected with far away friends.

- The phone is timeless. I like to call people to break away from the non stop written contact that we are all succumbing to. Hi, Just calling to say HOW ARE YOU? and on the phone you have to mean it. It feels very genuine to work with the phone.

5) Which female social innovator would you particularly recommend our readers to look at/be inspired from?

I recently heard Jules Hanna speak, she is the Chair of KIVA, the founder of various silicon valley start ups and is now an angle investor. I found her an incredible mixture of a fast paced, high energy tech entrepreneurs and a zen, spiritually balanced, women entrepreneur full of purpose and vision. She really got me thinking.

Check our latest News! Our great new initiative is Johnny our Money Adviser, he delivers free one to one sessions with anyone aged 16 and above. Johnny will listen to your money concerns, help you create a positive money journey and give you the tools to make the best of your financial situation. He won’t be pushing any products at you as this is an impartial money advice service offered to all UK citizens for free by the National Money Advice Service. Johnny starts as of the 1st of April and I will be the first to sign up for a session.