It was an honor to participate in the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion forum earlier this month.

It was a pleasure to share the latest thinking as part of a panel on “Different Components of the Blockchain Equation for Financial Inclusion,” and I was most excited to share new ideas, brainstorm, learn, and converse with some of the best minds working to solve financial inclusion in the world. The halls were full of innovators and the dinner conversation bounced from idea to solution to new technology. It was a stimulating environment and I’ve come home with new ideas, solutions, potential partners, and questions to answer.

Thank you to the GPFI Forum organizers and hosts for putting together a wonderful venue and agenda, and bringing together leaders in financial inclusion from around the world.

Inspiring Keynote

One of the highlights at the GPFI forum was Michael Casey, chairman of CoinDesk’s advisory board and WeTrust advisor, giving the keynote on how blockchain technology can be applied to financial inclusion.

Michael Casey and George Li at the GPFI forum

In discussing how blockchain can revolutionize the industries that serve as a ‘trusted third party’, he explained how greater personal control over our data, assets, and identities can be made possible in the future, and the implications for those currently excluded from the global economy. He expounded the importance of owning one’s data, the value that is generated when strangers and third parties grow to trust the integrity of this data, and the change this can mean for traditional industries spanning finance, legal, supply chain, etc. For financial inclusion, numerous use cases abound ranging from blockchain based access to credit, credit scores, fundraising tools, to collateral based lending.

Many of these ideas are being worked on today, and we will contribute in making these possibilities a reality.

Blockchain for Financial Inclusion Panel

Later in the day, I participated in the Blockchain panel with Sopnendu Mohanty from Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Iqbal AliKhan from IBM, Matthias Kröner from Fidor Bank, Sagar Sarbhai from Ripple, and this discussion was moderated by Ghada O. Teima from World Bank. We made our introductions, discussed how our companies are using blockchain to work towards financial inclusion, and discussed the progress, challenges, and our perspective on the evolving ecosystem.

Among the topics we also discussed was regulatory guidelines. Anytime there’s new technology, there’s uncertainty on how to regulate that technology. Unrestrained innovation has it’s benefits and leaves space for creativity, but regulations are critical in order to protect the participants and the entire ecosystem from bad actors.

On the panel, we learned about the Singaporean government’s approach towards experimentation and their strategy to provide a regulatory sandbox for blockchain companies to experiment within. Sopnendu from MAS spoke candidly about the need to allow for experimentation, and finding ways to put rules and guidelines in place without stifling innovation.

New Friends

As the saying goes, “How delightful it is to have friends visiting us from afar” — in this case we all convened from countries around the world, and at this uniquely global event, we met amazing projects and teams that are working towards a common cause. Some unique projects we met include Unleashing the Wealth of Nations (UWIN), which is led by Julius Akinyemi and Sandra Ro. They are working to unlock the untapped assets and wealth in the developing world, such as land — which can be digitized and serve as potential collateral for financial services. We look forward to seeing their progress, as these efforts are synergistic with the TLC product we’ve built, as these assets can be used for secure TLCs. We also met with Children and Youth Finance International (C&YFI), founded by Jeroo Billimoria, an organization focused on providing children and youth around the world with access to financial services, awareness of economic rights, and education about financial assets. Further, C&FYI is leading an initiative called Ye!, a network of young entrepreneurs who support one another through sharing of knowledge, coaching, and funding.

We connected with some of the entrepreneurs from Ye! and it is truly amazing to see how they are serving as catalysts within their communities to drive local economic growth. We shared war stories and realized that we have more in common than different, despite the geographic differences, and there is much we can learn from each other.

As I departed for the airport on July 4th…

I looked back at the two day event, I realized the breadth in diversity in terms of perspectives, approaches towards financial inclusion — and the deep commonality in shared purpose, tenacity, and perseverance on this mission despite the myriad challenges. It was refreshing and energizing to see the work and progress being made across different fronts, and learn from a diverse and experienced community, and encounter new possibilities for collaboration. GPFI Forum has been a wonderful opportunity for organizations around the world to connect and find synergy to achieve greater impact.

Thank you again to the organizers and hosts for putting on the conference and bringing everyone together.