Why does globalization matter?

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Now you can travel without travel restrictions for the first time since the pandemic in Japan, some of my colleagues and friends spent their summer abroad this year. I would like to go abroad as much as possible to learn global business as well as business in Japan, and apply what I’ve learned to Money Forward. This is not just a blurry dream, I'm quite serious.
　
Why so serious? Because we need to take Money Forward global faster than ever.
 
You can break down globalization into three steps such as  "Diversity in economics", "Diversity in recruitment", and "Diversity in business". 
We can promote "Diversity in economics", like the number of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) that support us has increased since going public in 2017, and that they now account for almost 50% of all shareholders. 

The next step we are working on is "Diversity in recruitment". In other words, we are looking for not only Japanese talent but also international talent to join us.
 
Why is globalization so important, then? There are two main reasons.
Firstly, it is almost impossible that we realize our dreams, or create and offer more services without global talent. 
 
It has been recognized that there is a shortage of engineers for many years in Japan.  While we opened a new office in Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Nagoya in addition to Tokyo headquarters like one of the greatest HR teams in Japan.

We were still facing a skills shortage in STEM to realize our dreams and offer services.

And then, we opened the first overseas office in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2019, opened a new office in Hanoi in 2021,  also a new office in India is under construction.

We are hiring many of non-Japanese engineers in Japan while we are opening offices abroad. As a result, non-Japanese engineers make up about 30% of all employees. I would say we can promote diversity and inclusion at speed compared to other companies.
　
Secondly, we need to turn our attention to international markets in order to succeed in the mid-long term.

The largest factor of GDP, consumer spending or personal consumption expenditures (PCE) comprises 60- 70% of GDP in Japan, but I'm afraid consumer spending is going to decrease since population of Japan is set to decline.
(As you know, the cloud computing market has room to expand because approximately only 20% of Japanese businesses today have moved to the cloud. We focus on the Japanese market so far.)

The yen has weakened against the US dollar, investing in Emerging Markets (EM) can be a great way to balance our portfolio as a long term business strategy.  
This is vital but difficult, and it will take long like 5 years or 10 years.
Japanese companies such as Recruit and M3 are excellent examples of this strategy, they challenged the difficult issues and achieved results.  
 
"Our goal is to grow and expand our business like tech giants"

Takuya Nakade, the Chief Technology Officer (CTO), moving to India to open a new location, smiled and talked about his dream to us.  He works hard to turn our startup into a global company.

For example, English as a common language in the workplace. We plan to create a workplace that allows employees to work with English as well as with Japanese in three years. In particular, our engineering teams strive to boost their language skills to achieve this. Of course, Money Forward fully supports employees who are not comfortable with English and prepares English lesson plans at different learning levels. The great news is that one of our colleagues significantly increased his TOEIC scores by 200 points after taking our English courses for three months.

It's hard to say as a CEO, but I started to focus on improving my English a few years ago. I lived in the US and Europe for about two years as an MBA student in my 30s, but those efforts were not enough for me.
Sometimes I feel frustrated about my language skills, but the key to communication is to try to be a better team player. Who speaks “perfect English” in the first place?  I believe that the common language called “Globish” is worth it.

Let's say, there's no need to hesitate to speak in English even if your grammar is influenced by your mother tongue and you have accents.  That sounds a good start, right? Plus, your work experience in English can definitely lead to career advancement opportunities.

We respect other cultures as well as languages. For example, we created a "Multi-faith Prayer Room" in the Tokyo headquarters  just after candidates who practice a religion requiring pray at specific times decided to join us. I'm glad they like it. Here's another example, the members from a spontaneous community "TERAKOYA" teach and learn daily use Japanese sentences, and also the HR team greets overseas employees at the Narita Airport when they arrive in Japan. 
 
We are always excited to work with new people.

We've been impressed with how inspiring overseas employees are and how positively they chose to join Money Forward.

Last month, I had a lunch meeting with four new employees coming from India and Costa Rica, all of them are highly motivated and talented. 
It was good for me to answer their questions directly and I'm proud of them. I felt relieved to hear "Money Forward understands diversity and helps us with process for immigration, renting a house, city hall services, and visa sponsorship. I'm grateful for your support."

I understand how hard it is to try new things in a foreign country thanks to my study abroad experience. Hopefully, overseas employees can add a new way of thinking and a new set of values to us, I'm more than happy to help them enjoy their work and personal life to the fullest.  (This is the embodiment of part of our culture "Teamwork"!)

At Lunch

Of course, There are a lot of opportunities for overseas members to take their career to the next level. Tran,Ba.Vinh.Son has been appointed the Chief Technology Officer of the group company, Money Forward i, he came from Vietnam and joined us four years ago. He is talented, a great leader,  and one of the well known graduates of Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST). I'm thrilled to hear that some HUST students think Son-san is their role model and they have an interest in Money Forward. 
 
Here's another example, the global team, Nikko plays a significant role in financial services for cloud and product launches. Some members in this team plan on going back to their country to move into a new career in the future. If I’m lucky they will be the future CEO or board members of our group companies in their hometown.

Now more people speak in English in the Tokyo headquarters, obviously we are moving to the next stage of globalization. However, we will accelerate the process of creating the workplace environment to improve cultural diversity. 
 
In the recruiting process, we value "your skill set", "your personality", and "how the company's mission resonates with you" regardless of where you are from. Our strategy for globalization is not just about doing business in Japan but also increasing our value and expanding our business internationally. With that said, our motto is "Society Forward".

We will plan for a successful cross border mergers and acquisition (M&A), and I personally would like to go abroad to keep up with the latest global business trends.
 
Also, we will increase board diversity at Money Forward.  My replacement or the one after her or him might be a non-Japanese CEO.　
 
Our brand slogan and tagline are "Money Forward.  Move your life forward.” and "Society Forward. Move the world forward.” 」
You may face obstacles on the way to achieving your dreams, but we will be there for you. We are actively looking for people to join us on our journey and drive ourselves forward.