08 December 2025 – How did you first become involved with The Club of Rome, and what drew you to its mission of systems change?
I have spent close to 30 years working across technology, payment systems and finance. In 2013 I shifted more deeply into payment systems and saw first-hand how finance can foster development. With colleagues I helped to build the Toronet Association, which curates and supports projects that bring tangible development to financially underserved communities in areas such as agriculture, power provision, home ownership and payments.
Dr Ndidi Nnoli-Edozien introduced me to The Club of Rome and that is how I became a member. The Club’s global focus, network and ability to reach decision‑makers offers a powerful complement to our granular, community‑level work — creating a synergy I am keen to tap as we continue these efforts.
Your work focuses on using decentralised technologies to drive systemic inclusion and prosperity. What inspired this journey, and why is it so important?
Working in payments showed me how quickly better infrastructure transforms daily life, from racing to mail mortgage cheques two decades ago to making instant online payments today. But I’ve also seen, very personally, what happens when systems fail.
When I was young, before leaving for college, we had power almost all the time. Years later, when I returned home, the national power authority had all but collapsed. My mother might have only two hours of electricity in a week. That story is repeated across many communities where centralised institutions have failed to deliver basic services.
Decentralised technologies are often misunderstood as speculative assets such as Bitcoin or meme coins. But in actual, the underlying infrastructure is far more powerful. These tools rebuild trust where centralised systems have failed and open new pathways for inclusion, allowing financing to flow outside narrow, top-down channels and to be designed around the realities of local communities.
When we zoom out to view today’s economic and technological systems at a broader scale, which critical gaps do you believe require redesign, and in what ways could decentralised approaches provide solutions?
Traditional finance depends on infrastructures such as credit‑scoring and verifiable histories that are missing in many countries. Without them, households and entrepreneurs struggle to access productive credit and growth stalls.
Decentralised systems address offers an alternative. They create transparent, verifiable records that can substitute for formal credit system. They also enable community-based financing that leverages local knowledge and trust.
This decentralisation that allows us to rebuild trust and expand access without replicating the inefficiencies of centralised model aligned with The Club of Rome’s call for systemic redesign.
What do you hope to contribute to The Club of Rome’s efforts on inclusion and systemic change from your own experiences?
Our global financial system remains fragmented. Some communities have access to credit, investment and growth, while others — equally rich in talent and ideas — are excluded by structural gaps in power, finance and infrastructure.
Having taught entrepreneurship to young graduates, I’ve seen how access to small-business support can transform ideas into thriving enterprises. Yet many young Africans with the same potential face systemic barriers: unreliable power, no credit facilities, no functioning payment systems.
This is not merely a regional challenge; it’s a global systemic failure. Through The Club of Rome, I hope to bridge these divides by promoting technologies and frameworks that make opportunity more inclusive. With each reach to decision‑makers, The Club of Rome can help turn proven local innovations into systemic models for equitable growth.
Looking ahead, what gives you hope in the movement to build more inclusive and equitable systems through finance and technology? How can communities like The Club of Rome support that vision?
Change can come quickly. In just a few years mobile networks reached over 90 percent of African communities, not because of centralised planning, but through innovation that worked for people’s real need. We can replicate that leap in energy, finance and digital access.
The Club of Rome has a unique role in enabling such systemic leaps. It convenes thinkers and decision-makers who can reimagine failed systems — like centralised power — and champion decentralised models that deliver both access and sustainability.
By connecting innovation with influence, The Club of Rome can help scale what already works. That’s what gives me hope, that within the next decade, entire regions can be powered, connected and thriving through inclusive systems that truly work for people.
