Tech Intersect 44: Akin Sawyerr-Are Blockchains & Defi Lending the New Esusu Wealth-Building Model? Lessons from Nigeria

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In this episode of Tech Intersect, I chat with Akin Sawyerr, Managing Director of Feleman Limited, a venture advisory firm focused on leveraging Blockchain technology to create value in underserved communities. Akin also serves in a Strategy & Operations leadership role with Barnbridge, a derivatives protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain. Previously, Akin served as the Strategy and Africa Lead for Decred. Before that spent fifteen years in management consulting and Fortune 500 corps. He led strategic and organization transformation projects at Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture and held leadership positions with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. 

And to add to this impressive list of credentials, Akin began his career at the International Monetary Fund in the Technology and General Services Group where he conducted economic research and data analysis in support of IMF country strategies across Africa, Asia and Europe. 

We discussed the current state of the crypto ecosystem, the future money and work in the US and abroad on the continent of Africa and where we go from here. Specifically, we talk about Nigeria as a case study for how distrust in a political and financial system can lead to a shift where citizens opt-out to adopt other self-custody value transfer options. For example, esusus (informal lending groups) are a popular means to create and protect wealth based on familial relationships or affinity groups, create a community of trust and honor that is “off the books”  In the case of esusus, they are not digitized. They are IRL cultural norms. But if they were digitized … perhaps they’d look A LOT like blockchain communities.

We explore what it would look like to digitize cooperative economics for the unbanked, underbanked and those who want an alternative hedge against government-issued money (aka fiat).

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