community . It achieves this through its ‘ The Engine Room ’ initiative at Colmore Circus , Birmingham . “ The Engine Room is a state-of-the-art fintech hub ,” Stewart explains . “ It was launched in November 2019 and built up a fantastic head of steam until

the events of March slowed things down a bit .” Providing a valuable collaboration space in the heart of the city , the initiative features over 30 workstations , numerous breakout areas and an auditorium . Significantly , it also provides the West Midlands of England with its own fintech cluster , something which had been lacking . “ I think it ’ s great that Wesleyan is able to play its part in helping the local economy . One of the barriers to entry for fintech startups is simply having access to a physical environment that is conducive to growth .”

Maintaining the same vision that has seen it prevail in the market for almost

119 fintechmagazine . com