CASE STUDY

THE INSTITUTIONS TO CONVINCE

Central bank regulators, fintech decision-makers, and legacy financial institutions across European and African markets. The Level One Project — the Gates Foundation's framework for national digital payment systems — needed these institutions to back something they had no market incentive to build: open-source, interoperable payment infrastructure designed for people outside the banking system.

THE EVIDENCE

The economics of financial inclusion were established: interoperability among digital money systems could bring banked and unbanked populations into one national payment network, at a fraction of the cost of traditional banking infrastructure. What didn't exist was institutional will — regulators, banks, and fintechs each waiting for the others to move first.

THE ARGUMENT

A $6M, multi-year advocacy and communications campaign, executed by a local and global agency team of 30 that I led across markets:

Stakeholder engagement at the decision-making level. Traditional PR, executive visibility, and experiential events targeting high-level financial decision-makers — built to secure financial and policy commitments, not just awareness.

A technical launch made legible. Strategic launch of the open-source digital payment platform and open API — translating engineering infrastructure into terms regulators and institutions could evaluate and act on.

Content across every channel the audience trusted. Messaging, talking points, speeches, op-eds, and editorials across the campaign's markets, keeping one argument consistent from conference stage to regulator briefing.

THE IMPACT

• Regulators engaged globally on product development designed specifically for unbanked, geographically dispersed populations

• Financial and policy commitments secured toward open-source interoperability