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Speaker "Tricia Martinez" Details Back

 

Topic

The potential for crypto and blockchain technology in emerging markets

Abstract

Emerging market consumers have long suffered from a lack of accessible and affordable financial services, leaving 3.5 billion consumers globally unbanked and underserved. It has been broadly recognized that greater access to financial services for both individuals and businesses accelerates economic activity. Using the best of blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and tokenization this financial inclusion problem can be solved.

Profile

Tricia is a serial entrepreneur and behavioral economist who has devoted her life to solving problems for underserved consumers around the world. Her experience ranges from cash transfer solutions in Africa to small business microfinance, to the development of an investment fund for underserved markets. Prior to Wala, Tricia built a cash transfer technology that provided universal income to subsistence farmers in Uganda and tracked the investment and financial well-being of its recipients. While spending her career in the financial inclusion space working directly with consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa, Tricia has been exposed to the deeply rooted complexities and barriers in the financial systems. With her background in behavioral economics, Tricia decided to take a different approach and began testing incentives models as a means to influence financial behavior. From there, Wala was born. Tricia completed her Masters of Public Policy with a concentration in Behavioral Economics from the University of Chicago.