After months of searching, I found my dream farm set high on a hill. All that stood between me and the cows, goats and pigs I could see in my mind’s eye was twenty pages of mortgage application. Tedious as it was to complete, I was a lawyer, a Telstra Award winning CEO on a career break with plans for my next role, I had a good credit record, owned the house I lived in, and had twice the deposit sitting as cash in the bank. I was about as good credit risk as you can get.
I could tick every box on the form bar one – I was not “currently” in employment. Computer said no.
My banker said yes…. if my husband guaranteed the loan. I was OUTRAGED. I didn’t have a husband, and even if I had, how dare he?!!
I was not just outraged for me, but for all the women who cannot tick the boxes – the women who struggle to ever borrow money; the women who are at risk of not being able to pay the rent because they lose their job and end up homeless; the women whose superannuation balances will not see them through their later years… The more I thought about it, the angrier I became.
What about the women who are desperate to leave a disempowering, perhaps violent relationship, but have no money to pay a bond or buy a fridge? Scenarios rolled through my mind of all the women who, through no fault of their own, will never tick the right boxes.
I couldn’t escape the thought that something needed to change – evidence of women’s financial disadvantage was everywhere. My mother used to say “if it’s to be, then it’s up to me”.
Hmmm.
One day, whilst rowing on the Lane Cove River, I thought of starting a company that would support women. As each oar lapped the water, my ambition got bigger in tune with the ripples: the company became a bank, then a political party and then a global movement! The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to do everything I could to support “all” women in achieving financial independence.
Helen Wiseman and I were both directors of the Sydney Community Foundation and had been invited to a barbecue. Chatting away to Helen, I told her I wanted to start a revolution! Startled, but always open to possibilities, Helen said “tell me more?” and out it all came.
"To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete” R. Buckminster Fuller
And so the revolution is about transforming the financial services sector.
We all have credit/debit card and bank accounts, we all buy a range of insurance policies. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could do things differently and create a new kind of financial services company; one that gives women a voice and a way to be heard?
Imalia was going to be the start of the revolution and I was going to start a farm, (and in the end, a female mortgage broker helped me get the mortgage!).
If you are inspired and would like to join the revolutionary movement that we are creating, you can request to join our Facebook group The Wolfpack, to share ideas and learn from other like-minded women.
