At 11Onze we are not just creating a fintech. We are forging a community that will be key to achieving financial sovereignty, individually and collectively. ‘If we come together, we will be stronger,’ says Onze CEO James Sène. We review with him what we mean by fincom and how it is key to empower ourselves.

We have invented a new term because we are doing something new, which did not exist until now: a financial community. ‘The word fincom comes from the contraction of fintech and community. We are inaugurating a new model, but we are not doing it alone,’ Sène begins. The idea, he goes on to explain, is inspired by a type of bank that is born around a community, especially in the United States, where it is common to bring together a certain community, such as the African-American community.

Inspired by these financial initiatives, however, the 11Onze community has gone further. The difference, says Sène, lies in the ownership of the financial institution. ‘None of these community projects are driven by the community itself. In contrast, at 11Onze, we expand the ownership of the institution as far as possible. We have more than 150 investors, and we are striving to reach as many people as possible. All of them will own it. And this is very important. In Catalonia, we share a language, a life, a culture and, now, we want to help this community to build its financial sovereignty’, he sums up.

A community that learns to learn

The model is pioneering and necessary. In a globalised world, which is undergoing changes that will shift the world’s poles of influence in the coming years, citizens must learn to build a strong social and cultural fabric, as well as an economic one. ‘Until now, there has been a very clear leadership of the United States, but all this is beginning to falter with competition from China and Asian countries. Europe is falling in the middle. There are no countries independent of each other. We need each other to protect our communities. That’s why the big question we ask 11Onze: who do we want to depend on, and how do we want to depend on them?

If Catalonia wants to answer this question, says Sène, it must first exercise the freedom, the right, to choose ‘what we want to be and how we want to be it’. And this, consequently, has to do with how we manage our money, with how we achieve our financial sovereignty. That is why, if 11Onze wants to be a useful tool, it must build a community that waits to learn how the market works and to move financially. It is in this sense that we have created La Plaça, that there is a team of 11Onze agents who will assist users 24 hours a day and that we have created the El Canut application. Everything serves the same objective.

Sène sums it up bluntly: ‘We have a plan at the service of a vision that must serve to meet the needs of today, but also to respond to what we expect to happen in the world in five years’ time. That is why we are thinking about the community, the financial application and a marketplace, a place where people can not only exchange ideas, but also, in the end, exchange products. Ultimately, says Sène, ‘if we have a financial nexus, this will make us more competitive, individually and collectively’.

Revolutionising banking from the bottom up

Thus, says the president of 11Onze, ‘when we make a profit, part of this profit will go back to the community and the other part will go to the investors or members of that community’. To make this possible, it is essential, says Sène, ‘to have absolute control of our finances, that is to say, of money, but also of assets, be they shares, precious metals or cryptocurrencies’. Hence, El Canut is a new technology created to revolutionise traditional banking. ‘Now, everyone has all these assets in different accounts. And we have created a wallet of wallets that will allow you to manage all your finances in a single space. You have to manage in an agile, easy and secure way,’ says Sène.

In view of the expectation generated by El Canut, the president of 11Onze, however, appeals for calm. At 11Onze we are aware that most of the community is not an expert in banking and that we will have to learn, little by little and together, the best way to give a return on each person’s money. For this reason, El Canut will announce and expand its services little by little. ‘It is not expected that on 1 October, when we open the first 5,000 accounts, everyone will suddenly be able to operate in an unknown financial market. We must be patient,’ argues Sène.

‘We come to ensure the financial well-being of Països Catalans and to promote Catalan culture. We come to give individual financial independence to achieve their collective’, reaffirms the president of 11Onze. In short, the time has come for people to learn to manage their assets in the best possible way. 11Onze is the tool to do so, it is one of the pillars to exercise all freedoms.

11Onze is the community fintech of Catalonia. Open an account by downloading the app El Canut for Android or iOS and join the revolution!