12 | Wealth & Finance FinTech Awards 2024 Fintech Start-Up Founder of the Year 2024: Shawn-Marc Melo Shawn-Marc Melo has come a very long way since he first started his sales career 15 years ago. With an impressive array of experience under his belt, he soon discovered his dream to launch his own fintech brokerage – and, two years ago, he did just that in the form of Lendwire Inc (Lendwire)., which has fast become Canada’s go-to online mortgage brokerage and lender. Shawn-Marc is a highly acclaimed leader within the mortgage industry, leading Lendwire to pioneer cutting-edge solutions that truly empower borrowers and investors. As Shawn-Marc celebrates a worthy win in the FinTech Awards 2024, we gain a deeper insight into what makes him such a remarkable innovator, founder, and CEO. When Shawn-Marc Melo founded Lendwire Inc., he wanted to create a company that would transform the everyday lives of Canadian consumers and industry titans. His vision was to develop something entirely new that would bring transparency and efficiency to the world of mortgages and fintech. The result was a comprehensive suite of services that can streamline and enhance the mortgage experience, helping clients to navigate the complexities when it comes to securing the right mortgage products to meet their specific needs. At the core of Lendwire is providing an experience that is as effective as it is efficient, and as founder of the company as well as lead programmer and front-end developer of its tech, Shawn-Marc has overseen the development of innovative technologies that take this to the next level. These come in the form of Blitz, BrightBroker, Lendy, and its online application platform, each of which contribute to the positioning of Lendwire as a leader in Canada’s online mortgage domain. Blitz has the ability to automate routine tasks, including document verification and risk assessments, to allow teams to focus their attention on the more complex decision-making processes; BrightBroker provides efficient learning tools enhance brokers’ professional careers; and Lendy leverages AI to deliver personalised mortgage advice and support. Key towards the creation of these stateof-the-art technologies is Shawn-Marc’s dedication to research and development, with him proactively working to address gaps and overlooked opportunities within the market. At Lendwire, constant innovation and improvement is prioritised, with this allowing it to ensure its technology remains at the cuttingedge. Focused on transparency, simplicity, and excellence, Shawn-Marc’s passion for exceeding the expectations of clients with only the best in financial solutions really shines through, and it means they can always expect access to the most user-friendly and efficient technology possible. Not only is Shawn-Marc a pioneer in fintech, but he is also an excellent mentor as CEO of the company, sharing his expertise with his team of five full-time staff, three part-time staff, and 13 agents, as well as clients and even competing brokerages. Being such a visionary, this is only a brilliant motivator for the inhouse team as they aspire toward breaking the glass ceiling in the world of fintech. Bringing him to his current position as a highly respected leader within the industry is a decade and a half of experience in sales. Shawn-Marc built his career from the ground up, starting off with door-to-door sales and cold-calling, and soon progressing to roles in sales management and as director of sales for a top company, with this all forming the solid foundations for an extraordinary career ahead. By 2017, he had become a mortgage agent, and it was during this time that he realised his ambition to start his own brokerage with a fintech focus. Since Lendwire’s establishment in 2022, the company has gone from strength to strength, and without the need for capital expenditure into large investment companies. Shawn-Marc delightedly shares how the company’s steady growth has been hugely rewarding, expressing his pride at how it was able to hit $1.5 million in revenue in only year one, and it being on track to achieve $3.75 million in year two. Helpful in getting Lendwire out there into the industry and in front of a large, diverse audience has been its marketing including billboards, radio ads, and sponsoring local sports teams. So, how do clients find working with ShawnMarc and Lendwire? With a five-star rating, the positive impact the company is having on clients’ lives is undeniable. Amanda B. shares, “Shawn-Marc saved me from losing my home. He was so understanding and compassionate and was able to get me the mortgage that fit my needs quickly and professionally. I don’t know where my children and I would be without him and Lendwire. Thank you so much!”
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