Finding my inspiration: Rethinking fintech in emerging markets

No problem is out of reach for Kellogg entrepreneurs. Supported by a generous gift from Larry Levy ’66 BBA, ’67 MBA and Carol Levy, the Levy Inspiration Grant Program gives students who want to build a startup the opportunity to travel anywhere in the world to witness their target market firsthand and learn about the challenges they can help solve.  

At the helm of their own experiences, participating students chart their own course prior to embarking on the journey. Their schedules can include a wide array of on-the-ground observations as well as hands-on experiences, such as meetings with founders, clients and government officials. They return home with new knowledge and in-person learnings to help inform their entrepreneurial path.  

In this installment of our series spotlighting recipients of the Levy Inspiration Grant, Valerie Weiqing Gao ’25 Two-Year MBAtraveled to Southeast Asia, a region that’s rapidly becoming a hub for blockchain and tech innovation, to meet with key industry leaders and explore how fintech can address real-world funding challenges beyond theoretical models. 

By Valerie Weiqing Gao 

Stepping outside of the classroom: A deep interest in fintech

Ever since undergrad, I’ve had a strong passion for fintech where I co-founded a blockchain startup that explored fractional ownership through tokenization. I’ve also led blockchain pilot projects at work, but my fintech passion goes even deeper in emerging markets.  

At Kellog, I’ve explored this subject matter even further including taking Professor Efosa Ojomo’s Entrepreneurship and Market Creation in Emerging Markets course and traveling to West Africa to study fintech innovation through the school's Global Initiatives in Management. 

As I’ve continued to immerse myself into the worlds of fintech and sustainable finance spaces, I’ve noticed a recurring theme: the gap between exciting technology narratives and on-the-ground realities. This sparked an interest in how blockchain could solve actual funding challenges for high-impact projects — not just theoretical use cases. 

My Levy Inspiration Grant proposal was framed around environmental, social and governance (ESG) tokenization, and Southeast Asia seemed like fertile ground to explore given its urgent sustainability needs, strong fintech ecosystems and growing retail investor bases. Refining my initial proposal, my focus shifted to testing how technologies such as blockchain or AI could create real-world, verifiable financial access solutions in emerging markets — which shaped the inspiration for my research journey. 

Getting on the ground: Singapore and Indonesia

Going into the trip, my core hypotheses focused on investor interest in ESG-focused tokenized assets. I wanted to explore how ESG initiatives could realistically be tokenized in a way that would attract meaningful capital and the regulatory environments for real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.  

I built my hypotheses based on online publications, reports and remote conversations. On paper, the opportunity seemed wide open, supported by progressive governments, growing economies and rising mobile adoption. There was a lot of excitement in industry reports about tokenization democratizing access to sustainable investing. 

But once I arrived on the ground, speaking with investors, regulators, founders and operators across Singapore and Indonesia, the reality was far more nuanced. 

The insights gathered from my trip reshaped my thinking about where the real opportunities for innovation and impact lie — and how to design fintech products that meet users where they are, as opposed to where theory says they should be. I realized that having progressive policy isn’t enough. Product-market fit, risk management and public trust must align before a new financial model can scale.  

These mental pivots helped me understand that practical fintech solutions for financial access will have a much faster, deeper impact than ambitious ESG tokenization in the short term. 

From assumptions to awareness: Asking the right questions

From my conversations with leading fintech firms, I was able investigate and uncover the values and principles that helped them launch a successful fintech product in Southeast Asia. 

Most importantly, my field experience made me realize what questions I wasn't asking yet. Sitting across the table from startup founders and bank executives forced me to confront assumptions I didn’t know I had including how risk is perceived, how users behave and how cultural values shape financial behavior. 

Research can give data points, but interactions and experience give me depth. It teaches me to see the gaps between systems, the emotions behind adoption decisions and the thousand small barriers that data alone cannot reveal. 

This shift, from studying opportunities to feeling the complexities, was transformative for me both as a researcher and an aspiring entrepreneur. 

Applying newfound knowledge: Reshaping the path forward

This global immersion learning opportunity didn’t just move me closer to my entrepreneurial goals; it fundamentally reshaped how I define them. 

Before I left, I was heavily focused on technology: blockchain, tokenization and ESG innovation. I believed that if I could build the right technology, the market would naturally follow. 

But traveling through Singapore and Indonesia and meeting investors, fintech operators, startup founders and regulators taught me a deeper truth: technology is not the starting point — real-world problems are. Building great products is not enough, but solving urgent, real-world needs is what creates lasting impact. 

This realization sharpened and redirected my entrepreneurial mission. Instead of focusing on ambitious but distant ideas like ESG asset tokenization — which are still years away from regulatory and market readiness — I am now focused on tackling immediate, critical barriers.  

Most importantly, my Levy Inspiration Grant trip taught me that entrepreneurship is not about chasing trends — it’s about building quietly, patiently, and bravely in the gaps others overlook. Because of this trip, I am not just inspired to start something, I am ready to start it the right way. 

Read next: Igniting Your Spark: Venturing into the rapidly evolving AI world