Trouver is managed by Paul Makin, who has more than 30 years experience in digital financial and digital banking services. Coming from a background in cryptography, Paul’s work took him into the development and operation of new payment services, first for the international payment schemes, then working with a range of alternatives such as the early cryptocurrencies.
Working with the first mobile payments services took Paul into Kenya, working with a Vodafone team in the early concept development and piloting of what came to be called M-Pesa. This led to the development of offline M-Pesa extensions – never launched – and the concept development, launch and piloting of the TAP-GES agriculture input subsidy programme in Nigeria, when his team registered more than 500,000 farmers in just three months, giving them a form of digital identity card, and delivered more than US$19m in subsidies to farmers far beyond the reach of mobile phone networks.
Since then, Paul’s work has focussed on questions of identity and access to appropriate financial services, whilst addressing the issues that arise from moving people in a single step from a cash-based economy to one based on de-materialised cash held on a mobile phone.