Interview with eFrontiers' COO Victor Novoselov on "becoming the gold standard for gamified employee and client training solutions"

Recent events and reporting about the teetering banking system and events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse underlined the importance of ensuring that the broader public can be part of the conversation about financial systems, regulations, and institutional interventions. The Geneva-based startup eFrontiers, which took part in the Venture Leaders Fintech program in 2022, fosters financial literacy with its Money Masters app. We talked to Victor Novoselov, eFrontier's Chief Operations Officer, about the startup's evolution and vision.

With Money Masters, your startup is tackling the global disparities in financial literacy, which have a profound impact on socioeconomic equality. What motivates you and your team to contribute a solution to this problem?

Financial inequality continues to be a hot topic for endless discussions, and we believe that the only way to bridge this gap is through learning. Our platform, Money Masters, grants access to the knowledge and tools that every individual needs to compete in today’s markets and societies. Unfortunately, financial education does not seem to be a priority for most individuals, often leading to poor financial decision-making. Our objective is to make Money Masters as entertaining and engaging as possible, so that our users find the beauty in finance.

What was the approach to developing the app? How did you go about ensuring your educational content is as accessible and effective as possible?

After conducting the necessary research about the most popular edtech platforms in the world, we decided to focus primarily on the gamification of Money Masters as we found this to be lacking in most competitors. Subsequently, we worked with an academic board of professors to create the foundation for our content, which is ever-evolving. Our educational content is as accessible and effective as possible because it is progressive in difficulty and condensed into short modules. Each user starts with the fundamentals, and slowly builds their way up. Users that are more experienced have the option to skip the lessons that they already know about by completing a test, thus catering to all levels of knowledge.

You recently rebranded: Money Masters is now eFrontiers. What motivated this change, and how did you approach and implement your new corporate identity?

I believe that "rebranding" is a slightly misleading word in this case; "business model overhaul" is more appropriate. Money Masters has always been the B2C platform, so when we were strictly B2C our corporate identity merged with the platform. Towards the end of 2022, we started to shift more towards B2B in the form of SaaS and signed our first licensing agreement with a client in January 2023. As a result, we chose to create another entity, eFrontiers, which would serve better for B2B communications and offer the distinction between the services provided by our company. Put simply, eFrontiers is an IT solution provider, and Money Masters is its product.



You provide white-label training solutions for corporates and institutions. Does this mean you’re widening the scope of your enterprise to focus on the design of effective educational and training tools beyond financial literacy?

Correct, eFrontiers aims to provide white-label training solutions to institutions. We are very excited to announce several new partnerships in the coming months.

Finance remains our area of expertise, so as of right now we are targeting financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and stockbrokers. However, the software we have created allows us to input any content imaginable, so we do not restrict ourselves solely to finance. We have also received several requests for internal training solutions, which most certainly is of interest to eFrontiers.

Ultimately, the content does not matter as much as the method in which it is delivered. The gamification of our platform is what we take pride in.

How do you envision eFrontiers' future?

The future of eFrontiers is diversification. We aim to continue the expansion of our B2B business into new sectors and countries, with the hope of becoming the gold standard for gamified employee and client training solutions. However, we will continue to consistently improve our Money Masters platform for our individual users to have the best possible experience whilst learning finance.

Overall, our goal is quite simple: make financial education affordable and accessible to all.

You’re at the head of a small international team. Your trajectory as well as David Giron’s educational and professional journey also spans continents, cultures, backgrounds, and languages. How do your cross-cultural experience and perspective inform your work?

This is of particular importance to us, since both David and I have lived in an international setting for the majority of our lives, having been exposed to countless different nationalities and cultures. We are both from opposite sides of the planet yet have witnessed the exact same problems relating to financial education. We believe that to stay competitive in the world today, financial literacy is of utmost importance and we’re here to provide the tools for everyone to get started.

Is there a particular philosophy or leadership style you try to implement at eFrontiers? Are there specific values or experiences that inform how you approach your work?

Our company is built on meritocracy. This is especially important in a start-up, where people are working for the long-term success of the company and not for personal gains. Hence, it is very simple to see the commitment that individuals have towards a project, and those that give their absolute best are rewarded accordingly.

What is your favorite and least favorite part of your job?

It is very difficult to say what the least favorite part of my job is because ever since I embarked on this journey with eFrontiers, I have learned more in 10 months than I would have ever imagined learning in 10 years. My personal growth has been tremendous, and I owe every bit of it to eFrontiers.