JP James says true leadership is contingent on care and understanding for those working with and around you.
“The most important attribute of a leader is having empathy and understanding of where a teammate is, not where you expect or want them to be, and to support them on their journey of where they want to grow, not where you want them to go,” James said.
James is chairman of Hive Financial Assets, a fintech firm that “seeks to provide superior returns in volatile, recessionary and high inflationary environments through the use of machine learning and technology,” the company said. “Our team oversees the management of lending portfolios focused on providing safe microfinance solutions for the average under-banked consumer.”
Hive expects to grow 10 times in size in the coming years through organic growth, capital growth and taking over other microfinance lending portfolios in the U.S. “That all being said, our team’s seasoned experience in Mexican, Central American and South American lending markets allows us to use digital technologies and machine learning-based credit models to provide similar safe products to consumers [in] those markets, which has never been done,” the company said. “These markets dwarf the U.S. consumer size, and we are excited to provide these products to both international investors and consumers.”
James has spent years giving back and investing in the next generation of leaders. That includes lecturing on quantitative computational finance at Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering and lecturing on big data, analytics, statistics and actuarial science at Georgia State’s Robinson College of Business.
James has been recognized with numerous awards, including a Leadership and Entrepreneurship award from Georgia Tech, Atlanta Business Chronicle’s 40 under 40 award, and the Atlanta 500 list two years running.
He co-founded TiE ACCESS, focused on investing in early-stage, under-represented founders. James has personally invested in over 30 fast-growth ventures and mentored and consulted over 100 ventures globally across healthcare, biotech, manufacturing, restaurants and more.
James is an active board member of Business Executives for National Security, TiE Atlanta (past president), TiE Atlanta Foundation, 21st Century Leaders, Himalayan Children’s Charity and Buckhead Club.
“As a serial entrepreneur, sacrificing time with young children and financial stability to manifest a vision is the highest risk, but when all the chips fall in place, I get to the point of saying, ‘I can’t not do this.’ Those chips are great partners, financial backers, a great board, fantastic arbitrage opportunity, perfect market timing, and a little bit of luck.”
