When I caught up with Akiko Orui, she was in motion. Fresh into a master’s in fintech in Singapore, working remotely with an Australian startup, and spending weekends in an entrepreneurship bootcamp, she was building momentum on every front. There was focus in how she spoke, a sense of direction that made each move feel purposeful rather than uncertain.
Akiko joined the Startmate Women Fellowship in 2024 while wrapping up her economics degree in university. During the program she stepped into the startup world, taking on a role at PreCredits, a fintech company building digital wallets for merchants. Not long after the Fellowship ended, she accepted a scholarship to study in Singapore. She kept her part-time role with PreCredits, adjusted to the new timezone and described the early weeks as challenging, but manageable.
What struck me most was how deliberately she continues to build momentum. Outside classes, Akiko joined a campus bootcamp to sharpen her founder toolkit. Many of the frameworks felt familiar, which she credits to the Fellowship. That overlap reinforced what she already knew about herself, she wanted to create something of her own. “I’ve always wanted to build,” she said. “I had some founder experience already, and I still work on ideas every weekend.”
When I asked what changed after the Fellowship, she spoke about voice and presence. “We learned how to pitch ourselves properly, how to be confident, and how to avoid habits like saying ‘we’ instead of ‘I.’ Those small shifts mattered. Now I feel prepared to pitch my ideas and talk to investors. Before, I do not think I would have done that.”
She also leaned into the technical side. Coming from economics, she taught herself Python and data analysis on Coursera. Imposter syndrome was there at the start, yet the skills opened doors and made the work feel less mysterious and murky,
Akiko calls this period her navigation phase. Australia was her first move abroad. Singapore is her second. During our chat she reflected on moments where a skipped graduation, saying yes to an unexpected path meant that momentum was snowballing. “I am proud of being resilient, learning to live in new places, adapting, and pushing forward,” she said.
In the coming months, Akiko is aiming to launch an MVP for a fintech idea she has been developing (so keep an eye out). It is early but you could feel the quiet excitement in the way she talks about it. The wheels are turning.
As for what comes next, she is leaving the door open. Singapore could be the next chapter. Australia could be as well. From afar Akiko still checks the Startmate Slack, cheers on other Fellows, and stays connected to the community that helped her take the first step.
The headline might read border crossing and fintech, but the story underneath is curiosity, compassion and consistency. The kind of growth is not always noisy. It is steady and it moves.
