Rodrigo Dantas e Silva on Founding Gabriel Money, Leaving EY at 50, and Building a Fintech for Latino Inclusion
…Be hard on the facts and sweet with the people. That balance is important. The “sweet with people” part takes discipline. You have to pause and breathe before reacting. And I don’t always get it right — but it’s a lesson that’s stayed with me, and one that keeps showing up…
I had the pleasure of talking with Rodrigo Dantas e Silva. Rodrigo is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Gabriel Money, a U.S.-based fintech company launched in 2023 with the stated aim of addressing long-standing gaps in financial access for Latino Americans. Drawing on over two decades of experience in banking, consulting, and payments, Dantas e Silva has emerged as a prominent figure in the movement to expand financial inclusion through technology-driven tools.
Born and raised in Juiz de Fora, a city in the Brazilian countryside, Dantas e Silva grew up in modest circumstances. His father worked as an electrician, and his mother was a teacher. He credits his upbringing — anchored by values of hard work and education — with shaping both his worldview and career path. As a child, he was encouraged to ask questions and pursue change, two principles he has cited as essential to his later success in finance and business.
Dantas e Silva began his professional life in Brazil during a time of economic transition. Following university studies in economics at what he describes as the top institution in the country, he entered the financial services sector at a moment of sweeping deregulation and foreign investment. His early career included roles at Itau-Unibanco, one of Brazil’s largest financial institutions, and Andersen Consulting — now Accenture — where he worked on early digital banking projects in the 1990s. These formative experiences placed him at the intersection of technology and finance long before fintech became a global industry.
Over the years, Dantas e Silva moved through several leadership positions, including senior roles at Roland Berger, where he led the Latin America financial services practice, and Ernst & Young (EY), where he ultimately became the Americas Payments Leader. He oversaw payment innovation strategies across North and South America and previously served on EY’s executive committee in Brazil. His tenure in consulting and payments positioned him as a specialist in systems transformation and customer-centric design — skills he would later leverage in founding Gabriel Money.
The idea for Gabriel Money emerged from a personal experience. After relocating to Atlanta to lead EY’s Americas payments operations, Dantas e Silva’s wife encountered difficulties accessing basic financial services in her name due to a lack of a U.S. credit score. The couple’s privilege and professional standing did little to shield them from systemic challenges facing immigrants in the U.S. financial system. According to Dantas e Silva, this realization led to a deeper investigation into how credit invisibility affects millions — especially within the Latino community.
Gabriel Money was co-founded in response, with Dantas e Silva joined by Caio Deutsch and Danielle Hirsch. The company offers a secured credit card product designed to help users build credit without accruing debt, along with an AI-powered financial assistant, “Gabi,” that provides advice, credit score tips, and gamified financial education. The app is intended to be accessible, free of financial jargon, and focused on long-term financial empowerment rather than transactional profitability.
Unlike other neobanks catering to the Latino market primarily through language support, Gabriel Money emphasizes structural inclusion — offering tools for credit-building, student loan repayment optimization, and upcoming features such as rent reporting and savings plans. According to Dantas e Silva, these products are developed in direct response to the specific behavioral and cultural dynamics of Latino and immigrant households in the United States. Under his leadership, the company has reached early milestones including 1,400 registered users and over 800 cardholders within its first year.
His approach to fintech is grounded in both personal values and professional pragmatism. He frequently refers to lessons learned over the course of his career, particularly the importance of humility in management. Dantas e Silva also emphasizes the need for inclusive financial products that reflect cultural norms — such as the family-centered economic structures common in Latino households, which he argues are often misread by traditional credit scoring models.
Now in his early fifties, Dantas e Silva says he views the next decade of his professional life as an opportunity to create meaningful impact. While acknowledging the financial risks involved in leaving a stable corporate role at EY to build a startup, he maintains that the work aligns with a deeper purpose. He frequently invokes the advice of his late father — “If you can help others, help them” — as a guiding principle.
Through Gabriel Money, he has positioned himself at the intersection of technology, culture, and finance — offering a model for how fintech can be tailored to meet the needs of communities historically underserved by the mainstream financial system. While still early in its growth, Gabriel Money’s model reflects a broader shift within the industry toward inclusive, values-driven innovation.
As Dantas e Silva continues to expand Gabriel Money’s offerings, he has articulated a clear goal: to help every hardworking individual in the United States — regardless of background — gain the tools to build wealth and live with dignity.
Yitzi: Rodrigo, it’s a delight and an honor to meet you. Before we dive in deep, our readers would love to learn about your personal origin story. Can you share with us the story of your childhood and how you grew up?
Rodrigo: I’m Brazilian — born and raised in Brazil. I was born in the countryside, in a city called Juiz de Fora, to a humble family. My dad was a blue-collar worker — he was an electrician — and my mom was a teacher. The values in our home were always: work hard, study hard, repeat. That was the rhythm of my childhood.
My dad passed away many years ago, but I can still hear him saying a couple of things. One was, “Son, ask questions and try to do things differently. Because if you don’t, you’ll only go as far as I did.” So, his advice was always to stay curious and not settle for the first answer. Question everything.
The other piece of advice I remember clearly is, “If you can help others, just go ahead and help them. Because when you need help, someone’s going to help you.” He truly believed in that, and he passed that mindset on to me — just make a positive impact wherever you can. You never know when you’ll need someone, and if you’ve helped them, they’ll remember.
That’s the way I’ve tried to live my life. Continuing with the story, I managed to get into the best school of economics in the country. I did my MBA and built a successful international career in finance and banking. Who would’ve thought, right? Coming from that background, that I’d ever be able to achieve something like that.
Like any Brazilian teenager, at some point I wanted to be a soccer player. I was good — but not good enough to go pro. And like a lot of teenagers, I also dreamed of being a rock star. Same thing — good, but not quite there.
But in banking and finance, with that mindset of approaching problems from a different angle and always trying to improve things, that really worked for me. It gave me the chance to build a meaningful international career.
Yitzi: Amazing. You probably have some amazing stories from your successful career and also your new company. Can you share with our readers one or two stories that most stand out in your mind from your professional life?
Rodrigo: Yes. So this goes way back, but I think it says a lot about my personality — which is usually to take whatever situation you’re in and try to find the opportunity in it.
During my senior year at the University of São Paulo, in 1995, Brazil was going through a pretty wild time. We’d just had a new president take office, inflation was still out of control, and — like you often see in Latin America — there was a lot of political and economic uncertainty. But one really positive change was that, after years of dictatorship and a very closed economy, Brazil had finally opened up to international trade and capital. That led to a wave of international companies entering the country, lots of M&A activity, and strategic projects popping up everywhere.
At the time, I was working at a bank, but I got excited when I was recruited by two major international consulting firms: Andersen Consulting and McKinsey. Remember, there was no internet then, so I didn’t really know much about either company. They both had nice brochures, good reputations, and my professors spoke well of them. I applied to both, got accepted by both.
But here’s where it got interesting — when I met the partner from McKinsey, he was super arrogant. I didn’t like the attitude at all. On the other hand, the partner from Andersen Consulting was down to earth, kind, and had a great vibe. So I chose Andersen. I figured, life’s too short to work with people who don’t treat you right.
When I showed up, I said, “Hey, where’s the guy heading up the strategy practice? I joined for that.” And HR told me, “Oh, we’ve actually decided not to move forward with that practice. Our focus is really technology now. That guy left, and we’re no longer building strategy here.”
I was like — what now? I just gave up McKinsey for this? So I asked, “Well, what can I do here?” They said, “What do you know?” And I said, “Well, I know banking.” So they put me with the banking group.
And that’s when everything changed. That group was filled with engineers from Brazil’s Aeronautical Institute of Technology — some of the best minds in the country. Think of it like if NASA shut down and all the top engineers started doing cool stuff in the private sector. I was an economist who knew nothing about tech, but they taught me. They even came in on Sundays to help me learn, just because I was so curious and eager.
Fast forward to today, and I’m running a fintech company. That wouldn’t have been possible if I hadn’t ended up in that situation. At the time, I thought I’d made a terrible decision. I kept thinking, “I should’ve taken the McKinsey offer. What am I doing here?” But it turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to me.
I was doing internet banking projects even before 2000 — digital banking before it was mainstream. And that foundation, which came from a decision that initially felt like a misstep, really shaped my career. I still have friends from that group, and I owe a lot to that chapter of my life.
Yitzi: Great story. It’s a terrific story, and you’re a great storyteller. It’s been said that sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Do you have a story about a humorous mistake that you made when you were first starting out and the lesson you learned from it?
Rodrigo: Yes, I do. This was me at 28 years old. After my time at Anderson, I went to work for another bank called Unibanco. I was the youngest executive director ever promoted to that role. I was very driven — I thought I could deliver everything, very aggressive. But I wasn’t prepared for a leadership role. I thought I was, but now I know I wasn’t. I had a pretty cocky attitude, let’s put it that way.
With my team, I was inclusive, but overall I was just focused on delivering results. At 28, I was younger than all the managers who reported to me. One of them, a really competent guy, messed up badly on a critical project. I was furious. I went over to his desk — right in the middle of the office floor — and I yelled at him. It wasn’t good.
Later that night, around 9 p.m., he came to me. We often worked after hours, so it wasn’t unusual. He said, “Hey Rodrigo, you know I love working for you. I do my best all the time, and you’re right — I messed up. But I’m 10 years older than you, I have two kids, and I don’t like to be humiliated in front of others the way I was today. Please don’t ever do that again. I almost lost all the respect I had for you. And I don’t want that, because you make me a better professional. I love working with you. Just don’t do that again.”
That was a big screw-up — especially with someone I respected and cared about. This was over 25 years ago, and I still respect him, still support him. I learned a lot from that. Not just how I treated him, but how I was showing up for the rest of the team. I was being a boss, not a leader.
If he hadn’t been older and more mature than me, and if he hadn’t taken the time to give me that feedback — think about how crazy that is. That guy gave me one of the most valuable pieces of feedback I’ve ever received. And that’s so generous.
That experience taught me a lot. These kinds of lessons — about human dynamics — are the ones you can apply in every part of life. Later, after another conversation with a friend, I came up with a kind of guiding principle that I still follow: be hard with the facts, but sweet with the people. That’s how you find the right balance to move things forward.
Yitzi: So let’s talk about Gabriel Money. Can you tell us why you created the company and how you see it’s helping?
Rodrigo: Yeah, that’s another story. So, throughout my career — my last job in the corporate world — I was a senior partner at EY, managing financial services for them in the South American region. At one point, I was invited to move to Atlanta to establish and lead the Americas payments practice. Because of my background in payments — I had worked in just about every area of that space — and because Atlanta is such an important hub for payments in the U.S., it was a big opportunity.
As great as that opportunity was professionally, it wasn’t a no-brainer. It’s not very common for a Latino to come to the U.S. to lead a major practice at one of the Big Four. I didn’t know how it would play out. My kids were six and eight at the time, and they didn’t speak any English. My wife — who’s also a co-founder of Gabriel Money — and not just because she’s my wife, I can share more on that if we have time and you’re interested… but she had just taken over one of her family’s businesses. She said, “I’m managing this thing now. I don’t want to move.”
But we decided to do it anyway. Mostly for the opportunity it would give the kids. Even if it didn’t work out, I’d have international experience on my resume, and the kids would have the chance to grow up experiencing a different culture and environment. So we took the leap.
And honestly, all those initial fears disappeared pretty quickly. Professionally, things went great for me. The kids learned English super fast — so fast they were correcting my accent, annoyingly. Danny, my wife, was able to manage the business remotely even before we all realized that was really possible. So all of that worked out.
The one thing we didn’t expect was that Danny couldn’t get anything under her own name. Not even a cell phone plan — because she didn’t have a credit score. I had to co-sign everything, so everything was under my name. Two things happened because of that. One, she started asking me, “Husband, can you please co-sign this? They don’t think I’m worth it.” And two, she looked at me and said, “Hey, Mr. Fintech, isn’t this a problem that should already be solved in this country? And if we’re facing this, even with all our privilege and backing, imagine the people who don’t have that support.”
That moment stuck with us. I was focused on my job, but I started digging into the issue. I went into the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics database and started reading everything I could. I talked to people who looked Latino — I speak fluent Spanish; I grew up with an Argentine family in Brazil — so I started asking around. And it became really clear that this is a meaningful problem.
We began to understand all the different layers. And I think a lot of people don’t fully appreciate the depth of the issue. Because of that, the solutions being built often fall flat. My first move was to try selling a project around this problem to my clients — remember, my clients were the big banks. But that only helped me realize even more clearly that they weren’t going to fix this. Their incentives and business models just don’t align with solving the issue.
One of the bankers actually said, “Why don’t you go build this, Rodrigo? We might buy you later.” And I thought — maybe that’s something.
It took a while, though. EY didn’t want to let me go. I talked to my boss — who’s now the global CEO, Janet Trongkolay — and she said, “No, I don’t want you to leave. Let’s find another way for you to stay.” So it took some time to work that transition out.
But also, man, I was 50 years old. I’m 52 now, but at the time I was in a very comfortable position. If I didn’t mess up, I was basically cruising toward retirement. But my background tells me, if you can help others, go help. And I saw the opportunity to do something different.
I still felt young, had a lot of energy, and figured I had at least another 10 to 15 productive years ahead of me. And I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t try. So I did it.
It wasn’t easy. People in the startup world talk about having skin in the game — like, living in a basement eating pizza. But when you’re 20, that’s not really a big deal. For me, making this transition at 50 — that’s real skin in the game.
We believe we’re building something that sees the financial system differently — specifically how it impacts Latinos, especially young Latinos.
First of all, immigrants in the U.S. start from scratch. No matter where you come from, when you get here, you have to build from the ground up. But it hits Latinos differently for a few reasons. One, in Latin America, we don’t borrow money. Interest rates are high, inflation’s high, and borrowing usually means you’re in trouble. You avoid getting reported to credit bureaus because that’s seen as a bad thing.
So when you arrive here and the system says, “To be creditworthy, you have to borrow and repay,” people are like, “No, I’m creditworthy because I don’t need to borrow.” It’s a completely different mindset — it’s mind-blowing.
That leads to the next layer. You don’t understand the system, but you also don’t want a gringo telling you that you need financial education. So you don’t ask. You work hard, you make money, you save in cash, but you never fully integrate into the system.
Then there’s the next layer: if you were born here in a family like that, you grow up without fully knowing how to access the financial system. You’re underbanked. You might have a checking account, but nothing else. You don’t know how to build credit. You’re still afraid of borrowing. And you’re still not asking for help.
There are 6.5 million young Americans in metro areas with no or low credit scores. There are 20 million Latinos in that same situation. And there are 122 million Americans overall who are either credit invisible or have low scores. It’s not just a Latino issue — money is a sensitive topic, and people feel ashamed to ask questions.
But we chose to focus on our community first, and to approach it differently.
And now there’s AI. So we said, “Let’s build a financial empowerment platform using AI.” That’s what we’re doing. A judgment-free zone for finances. Ask anything. Gabby, our AI agent, is here to help.
Gabby gives credit score tips, helps you understand how to build and improve credit. There’s a gamified learning zone where you can play and learn. All of it’s in the app. And we’ve committed to never offering predatory products. We’re using this AI platform to give people access to safe financial tools and help them build healthy habits — and ultimately, confidence. Because this isn’t just about building credit. It’s about building confidence.
Our first product is a secured credit card that helps you build credit with no risk of falling into debt. That’s the entry point.
This week, we’re launching our second product — a student loan repayment engine that helps you find and enroll in better repayment plans. Later this summer, we’re launching a full credit-building suite, including rent reporting, utilities reporting, and a credit-builder subscription.
And we’re working on savings tools too. Our users have been saying, “Hey, I like this. Do you have a savings program? I can save $20 a week.” So we’re building that next.
We’re engaging with our users weekly and growing our pipeline. We’ve got 1,400 registered users on the app, 840 cardholders, and we’re grinding every day to build this financial empowerment movement. That’s how we see it.
Yitzi: So as a purpose-driven company, have you ever had a moment where you had to choose between profitability and staying true to your purpose? And could you share a story about that?
Rodrigo: Yeah, interesting question. Honestly, I don’t feel like I’ve had a real conflict between the two, because that’s exactly what we built the company for. And the market we’re operating in — I think it’s been, well, I want to be careful how I say this because I don’t want to be offensive — but I think there are clear opportunities to make money simply by offering better products and by understanding the customer and their behavior more deeply. It’s not necessarily a game of cutting margins or competing only on price.
Let me give you a concrete example — this is for a product we don’t have yet, but we plan to offer in the future: mortgages.
Today, when you apply for a mortgage, any bank will evaluate your individual financial profile. So they’ll look at who’s applying — say it’s Yitzi — and they’ll pull your credit report, your income, all of that.
But in Latino families, that model doesn’t really work. First of all, our credit reports are often not great. But beyond that, the way it actually works is very different. You might get help with the down payment from your grandmother — even if you don’t have the money right now, she’ll come through. There’s a whole family support system behind the scenes.
And by the way, more often than not, you’re not the only one living in the house you’re buying. Family often lives with you. So that support system isn’t captured by traditional risk assessment models. Those models will tell you that you’re higher risk than you actually are. And then they make pricing decisions based on that flawed understanding.
So, just with that mortgage example, there’s an opportunity to rethink what kind of data we look at. Who’s living in the house? Are there other family members contributing to household income? In the end, you should be doing a household-level risk analysis, not just an individual one.
And then, think about other dynamics. Do you own any other properties? No? So this is your only home? Listen, the Latino who misses a payment on their only house hasn’t been born yet. Owning your home is sacred — if you don’t, your grandmother looks down on you. It’s just part of our culture.
So understanding those dynamics helps you make better lending decisions. And when you make better decisions, you can price the risk more fairly. That’s not a trade-off between profit and purpose. It’s the purpose that actually helps you be more profitable. And that’s exactly the path we’re on.
Yitzi: We learned about the purpose part of your business, what is the business model part of it?
Rodrigo: Yeah, the business model varies depending on the product. So, the app is free. Gabi — our AI assistant — is your free, judgment-free financial zone. You download the app, and you can use Gabi for free.
We monetize based on the products that users choose to access through the platform. So, for example, with the secured credit card, we make money from interchange fees. Every time you swipe the card — let’s say you go to Lululemon and spend $100 on a pair of socks — Lululemon keeps about $95. The credit card acquirer gets around $2. Visa or Mastercard gets about $1. The issuing bank gets $2. And we get a share of that bank portion. In this example, we’d get about $1.80. These numbers are just directionally accurate — it varies based on several factors — but that’s the general idea. We make money when people use the card, through revenue sharing on the interchange fees.
Now, for the student loan repayment engine, that’s a different model. We charge a fee to the customer, but only when we help them enroll in a new, better repayment plan. Let’s say you have a federal student loan with an income-driven repayment plan — that’s about 80% of federal student loan holders. You’re allowed to review and change your plan once a year. We help you find a better option based on your current situation.
So, imagine you’re paying $240 a month and we find you a plan that brings it down to $180. We charge you $60 — just the amount you saved in the first month — as a one-time fee for helping you enroll. We also keep track of your plan and remind you next year when it’s time to review again.
As we roll out other products, we’ll have small fees for things like enrollment — but always with a strict commitment to never offer predatory products. That’s a core part of our purpose. Every product we offer is designed to empower users and build trust, not trap them.
Yitzi: This is our signature question. You must have learned a lot from your experiences in leading a successful company. Can you share five things that you’ve learned now that you wish you knew when you first started a fintech company?
Rodrigo: Five things — wow. Okay. Since I’m building a purpose-driven company, I’ll try not to get too political here, even though that’s always tempting.
- First, I wish I had started Gabriel Money as soon as we had the idea. We had already interviewed enough people to confirm the need, but we waited about a year before launching. I thought I could keep learning before executing, and I did — but nowhere near as much as I learned once we actually started building. So yeah, number one: I wish I’d started sooner.
- Second, and I just shared this on another podcast recently — this one’s more of a confirmation of what I already believed, rather than something I learned the hard way. Be passionate about the problem you’re solving, not the solution you’re building. Your solution will need to adapt. You’ll get feedback, and you’ll realize some of your “brilliant” ideas aren’t actually brilliant. But if you’re passionate about the problem, you have a North Star to guide you. If your North Star is your solution, you’re just being stubborn. So hold onto the purpose, be open to feedback, and keep evolving.
- Third, this one comes from my experience with fundraising. Fundraising is hard. Really, really hard — especially in recent years with all the uncertainty and the burst of the COVID-era valuation bubble. People will give you a lot of feedback. Some of it is lazy, but some of it is valuable. Just remember that all feedback comes from someone else’s perspective and experience. Even the best-intentioned feedback is limited by their own toolkit. So don’t feel like you need to follow everything they say. Sometimes, you actually know more than they do about your space. The key is to listen, but also to filter carefully.
- Fourth, this is something I still remind myself of: be hard on the facts and sweet with the people. That balance is important. The “sweet with people” part takes discipline. You have to pause and breathe before reacting. And I don’t always get it right — but it’s a lesson that’s stayed with me, and one that keeps showing up.
- And fifth — this one might sound a little soft to some people — but I believe in having faith. Every time something doesn’t go the way I thought it would, I do two things: First, I ask myself what I could’ve done differently to get a different outcome. I map that out pretty thoroughly. Then I ask why I didn’t do those things. And sometimes the answer is: it just wasn’t meant to be. There’s a faith component to that mindset. I genuinely believe that what’s meant for me is still out there. Sometimes I feel like my dad — who passed away over 20 years ago — is up there nudging me, tipping things this way or that, guiding me along. So yeah, the last one is: have faith.
Yitzi: That’s great. This is our final question. Because of your great work and the platform that you’ve built, you’re a person of enormous influence. If you could spread an idea or inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Rodrigo: There are so many opportunities to bring good to people, Yitzi. And honestly, I think there are even bigger opportunities out there than the one I’m working on. But this is the one I can influence — this is the one I’m capable of building. And it’s our purpose.
This is how I end some of my pitches: If, like me, you believe that every honest, hard-working American should be able to build wealth — regardless of background — then let’s make this happen.
That’s the idea I want to spread. There are 122 million people in this country who can be impacted by this mission. That’s why I want to create a financial empowerment movement — so every honest, hard-working person has the opportunity to build wealth and live with dignity, no matter where they come from.
Yitzi: Rodrigo, thank you so much for this. This has been an amazing conversation. How can our readers learn more about Gabriel Money and connect with your team? How can they support you in any possible way?
Rodrigo: Yeah, the site is gabriel.money — super intuitive. Just head to the website, sign up for our newsletter, or get in touch. And my email’s easy too — [email protected]. Feel free to reach out. I’d love to connect with anyone who shares this purpose and wants to be part of the movement.
Yitzi: Well, thank you, Rodrigo. Thank you from me, honestly. I hope we can stay in touch and do this again next year.
Rodrigo: Me too. Thank you so much, Yitzi. And thank you for doing what you’re doing — I really do appreciate it.
Rodrigo Dantas e Silva on Founding Gabriel Money, Leaving EY at 50, and Building a Fintech for… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.