Project Nemo’s Back Story

Project Nemo was born at a kitchen table of an AirBnB in Vienna in October 2023. An unlikely trio of disability advocate Kris Foster, passionate graduate Ella Manley and former FinTech CEO Joanne Dewar – very different life experiences but united by a common passion to address some of the inequalities in the world. Many disparate conversations came together in one moment at the European Women Payments Network conference and there was a groundswell of encouragement to convert our isolated messages into something tangible and actionable.

Months of conversations had highlighted that there was a common gap in awareness, understanding and impact for disability inclusion across the industry. And yet, everybody related on a personal level due to direct or family lived experience.

This problem statement was tested at a round table event gathering the ‘face of FinTech’ in November, together with key disability community ambassadors. The answer was emphatic support and further encouragement to ‘do something’

A shout out at the Card and Payment Awards and a few posts on LinkedIn sparked wider interest and small but mighty team has assembled to design a campaign with actionable and measureable outcomes. However, unlike a regular campaign, key to the success of Nemo is the commitment to embed into BAU for ongoing measurement and continuous improvement..

Our Festival of Inclusion starts the education journey with a series of workshops and will facilitate through the year the creation of practical guidance, including signposting of the expertise, coming together as an e-book and podcast series. We are thankful for the many organisations that are leaning in to partner with us to deliver this initiative – to maximise its effectiveness and reach.

2024 is an Olympic and Paralympic year. Let’s also make it the year that we accelerate disability inclusion in FinTech.