The CXO Conversations

Matteo Rizzi sits down with Jean Bosco Iyacu, newly appointed CEO of the Mojaloop Foundation, to explore the future of inclusive instant payment systems. Drawing on his journey from economics lecturer and banker to fintech ecosystem builder and development finance leader, Jean Bosco explains why financial inclusion is fundamentally a matter of human rights. The conversation highlights Rwanda’s tra...

In this episode of CXO Conversations, host Matteo Rizzi sits down with Dr. Tarek Mougani, founder and CEO of Affinity Africa, Ghana’s first digital bank built specifically for the African mass market. Tarek shares his remarkable journey from physicist and engineer at Cambridge to hedge fund investor, national athlete, art collector, diplomat, and fintech entrepreneur. The conversation explores why...

At the 3iAfrica conference in Accra, Ghana, hosted by the Central Bank of Ghana and the Global Finance & Technology Network, host Pat Patel speaks with guest Tamara Cook about the evolution of financial inclusion. The discussion explores how access to financial services alone is insufficient without focusing on financial health—ensuring households can manage shocks, save, and plan for the futu...

In this live discussion from the 3i Africa event in Accra, Ghana, host Khadija Duker-Adam speaks with Hazvi Chimbetete, a financial services professional and career coach with a background spanning property, compliance, and fintech. Hazvi shares her journey from Zimbabwe to the UK, where she built a career in banking, mortgages, and regulatory compliance at institutions including HSBC. Over time,...

In this live conversation from the 3i Africa event in Accra, Ghana, host Matteo Rizzi speaks with Rosy Fynn, Country Director for Nigeria at the Mastercard Foundation. Rosy shares her career journey from telecoms in Ghana to global development leadership, including her work across multiple roles within the foundation. The discussion centers on the Mastercard Foundation’s ambitious goal of enabling...

Gillian Darko, Group VP of Strategy at Yellow Card, joins host Matteo Rizzi in Accra during the 3i Africa event for a conversation on the evolution of financial infrastructure across emerging markets. She traces her journey from studying corporate law in the UK and working at institutions like PwC and JP Morgan, to relocating to Ghana and stepping into leadership roles in Africa’s fintech ecosyste...

Recorded live at the 3i Africa event in Accra, Ghana, this episode features host Matteo Rizzi in dialogue with entrepreneur Adewale Yusuf, founder of AltSchool. Adewale shares his journey from building Techpoint Africa to creating platforms focused on connecting African talent to global opportunities, highlighting over 100,000 learners across more than 100 countries. The discussion explores system...

Recorded live at the CXO Conversations stage during the Inclusive FinTech Forum 2026, this deeply personal and partially French-language conversation featured Serigne Dioum in dialogue with fintech investor Matteo Rizzi. Reflecting on his journey from Senegal to leading one of Africa’s largest fintech ecosystems, Dioum explored the evolution of MTN Group’s mobile money platform, MoMo, now serving...

Recorded live at the CXO Conversations stage during the Inclusive FinTech Forum 2026, this conversation between investor and fintech pioneer Matteo Rizzi and Jeremy Tan explored the future of cross-border digital payments. Tan unpacked how national real-time payment systems - from Singapore’s PayNow to Brazil’s Pix and India’s UPI - are reshaping global commerce through interoperable QR payments....

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, Divine Muragijimana speaks with Jehiel Oliver, founder of Hello Tractor, about transforming African agriculture through technology, data, and entrepreneurship. Oliver shares his journey from investment banking and private equity into building a platform that now operates across 18 countries and serves over 2.5 million farmers. The conversation explore...

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, CXO Conversations host Pat Patel speaks with Nicolai, co-founder of Nala, about his unconventional journey from a Waldorf school upbringing in the US - where he later dreamed of becoming a dairy farmer - to fintech entrepreneurship. He shares how early experiences in economics, Morningstar, and payments shaped his interest in financial systems and inc...

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, host Divine Muragijimana speaks with a marketer-turned-founder Ebby Gatamu about her journey building CladFy. She shares how a background in accounting, audit at KPMG, and marketing shaped her path into tech entrepreneurship. The conversation explores how fragmented financial data across mobile money, banks, and savings groups limits personal financia...

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, Matteo Rizzi speaks with Robert Ochola, CEO of AfricaNenda Foundation, about accelerating financial inclusion across Africa. They discuss the mission to connect over 400 million unbanked people to financial systems through interoperable, affordable instant payment systems and policy engagement with regulators. Ochola shares his journey from engineerin...

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum in Kigali, CXO Conversations host Divine Muragijimana speaks with Radhika Bachu, CEO and co-founder of Ndovu Wealth Limited, about her journey from BlackRock in London to building an East African investment platform. She explains how Ndovu democratizes access to global markets, enabling users to invest from as little as 10,000 shillings into assets like Apple, Micros...

In this episode of CXO Conversations, Matteo Rizzi speaks with Robert Okello, CEO and co-founder of Maarifasasa, about unlocking Africa’s potential through skills and opportunity. Inspired by his own journey - from a small village in northern Uganda to global education - Robert shares how access to learning transformed his life and shaped his mission. The conversation explores the critical skills...

In this episode of CXO Conversations, Pat Patel speaks with fintech entrepreneur Gabriele Sabbatini, co-founder of Hercle, about the future of cross-border payments. From his early fascination with invention to his journey through Bitcoin and crypto, Gabriele shares how he identified real inefficiencies in global trade. The discussion highlights how stablecoins are transforming payments - making t...

In this episode of CXO Conversations, Matteo Rizzi speaks with Carine Umutoni, Managing Director of Ecobank Rwanda, about the evolution of banking in the fintech era. With over two decades of experience, Carine shares her journey from traditional banking to leading innovation in a rapidly changing financial landscape. The discussion explores how fintech has reshaped customer expectations - shiftin...

Navin Gupta, CEO of Crystal Intelligence, discusses the shift of crypto from unregulated markets to licensed frameworks requiring compliance, investor protection, and sanctions screening. He explains how his company provides blockchain analytics to prevent illicit transactions and supports law enforcement in tracing and recovering stolen funds. The conversation explores stablecoins’ growing role i...

At the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, Melanie Keita discusses her journey and views on Africa’s development with host Divine Muragijimana. She reflects on growing up between France and Africa, her multicultural identity, and settling in Kenya after reconnecting with her Congolese roots. The conversation explores her shock and self-discovery upon returning to Africa, shaping sense of belon...

On this episode of CXO Conversations, Matteo Rizzi sits down live at the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 with Leiming Chen, Senior Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer at Ant International. They explore how a global fintech leader leverages technology for financial inclusion, sustainability, and community impact. From gamified initiatives like Ant Forest to large-scale digital payment ec...

At the CXO Conversations studio during the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026, Matteo Rizzi sits down with David Nandwa, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, HoneyCoin. They explore how a self-taught coder turned 24-year-old entrepreneur is reshaping money movement with stablecoin infrastructure. From building global teams and scaling operations to raising millions and leveraging AI for financial inno...

Live from the Inclusive Fintech Forum 2026 in Kigali, Matteo Rizzi hosts Steve Haley of Mojaloop in the CXO Conversations studio. They explore how inclusive instant payment systems are transforming economies by enabling real-time, low-cost transactions across entire populations. Rwanda emerges as a leading example, showcasing how digital payment infrastructure can drive financial inclusion and eco...

In this episode, Mayoran Rajendra, Head of Asia Innovation Centre for SMBC, shares why success of a bank’s innovation lab depends on transforming core businesses rather than chasing side projects. He explains how his team delivers free analytics tools to CFOs as a bridge to financial products, why SMBC built the Asia Rising Fund to co-invest with startups, and how they’re already deploying generat...

Born stateless in Japan, Taejun Shin’s journey from refugee travel documents to private equity and then founding Gojo is anything but ordinary. In this episode, he explains how his personal story shaped a mission to deliver financial services to low-income households across 13 countries, from India to Africa. He shares why governance and regulation remain his biggest hurdles, why face-to-face inte...

Venture capital often chases hype, but Logan Allen, founder of Fin Capital, has built a firm around what he calls “boring FinTech”—the B2B infrastructure that powers banks, insurers, and asset managers. In this episode, Logan explains why core banking systems are the biggest systemic risk in finance, why middleware and dual-core strategies are only stopgaps, and how generative AI is pushing banks...