Interledger Salon

Unbanked in America: Exploring the Financial Divide:Financial Trauma - Healing and Recovery with Dr. LaTanya White

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 12:51:16 +0000

n this episode, we delve into the often overlooked but deeply impactful issue of financial trauma—emotional and psychological wounds stemming from past financial hardships, exploitation, or systemic exclusion. Our guest, Dr. LaTanya White, is a scholar-practitioner and founder of Concept Creative Group, whose groundbreaking work addresses the racial wealth gap through entrepreneurship and equity-focused education. Dr. White shares insights from her research and the legacy of financial trauma on marginalized communities. We explore how these experiences can lead to mistrust of traditional banking systems and how her Dynastic Wealth® framework offers a pathway to healing, empowerment, and long-term financial transformation. This conversation sheds light on the deeper roots of financial disengagement and how to build systems for a more equitable economic future.

Unbanked in America: Exploring the Financial Divide: Banking Deserts - A Mississippi Case Study with Sheena Allen

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 12:47:08 +0000

In this episode, we explore the concept of banking deserts—areas with limited or no access to traditional banking services—and the various factors that impact residents. We interviewed Sheena Allen, the founder of CapWay, and learned about her experience supporting unbanked and underbanked communities, particularly in her home state of Mississippi. Sheena shares her journey in building a fintech platform designed to empower vulnerable populations with digital financial services. We delve into the systemic barriers these communities face, including a lack of financial literacy, digital equity, and access to technology, and discuss innovative solutions, such as CapWay’s role in fostering economic inclusion. This episode also highlights the importance of open financial systems, partnerships, and the future of fintech in closing the financial divide for underserved groups.

Unbanked in America: Exploring the Financial Divide, "An Intro into the Series with Victoria Coker"

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 12:43:38 +0000

In this special introductory episode, we connect with Victoria Coker, the creator of the mini-series Unbanked in America: Exploring the Financial Divide, to learn what inspired her to launch this two-part mini-series on the unbanked and underbanked in the United States. She explains how insights from the 2021 FDIC report informed her approach and highlights the importance of these issues for financial inclusion. She reflects on surprising lessons uncovered through research and interviews, as well as the moments that left a lasting impression. Victoria also shares her hopes for what listeners will take away from the series and her vision for the future.

Is Financial Education and Understanding the Key to Financial Inclusion?

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 10:46:55 +0000

Financial education is often positioned as the high-positioned missing link to financial inclusion, but does understanding money matter if you don’t have fair access to the financial system? In this episode of the Interledger Salon, host Sheena Allen, a serial entrepreneur and fintech founder, is joined by Evan Leaphart and Ronaldo Hardy to examine the role of financial education and the limits it reveals in advancing financial inclusion. Drawing from their experiences building, funding, and operating financial tools for underserved communities, the conversation interrogates whether education empowers participation or unintentionally shifts responsibility away from flawed systems. Together, they explore how trust, access, infrastructure, and incentives intersect with financial knowledge, and where education alone falls short. This discussion asks whether financial inclusion begins with teaching people how money works or with redesigning the systems that determine who money works for.

Host: Sheena Allen: tech founder, entrepreneur, international speaker, and media creator with a decade of experience building companies across technology, fintech, and digital media. [https://www.sheenaallen.com/]

Guest:

Evan Leaphart: fintech entrepreneur and the founder of Kredit Academy, a platform focused on financial education and credit-building for adults and children. His work centers on embedding financial capability into everyday life through partnerships with financial institutions and community organizations. [https://www.evanleaphart.com/]
Ronaldo Hardy: CEO of Balance Financial Wellness and a former credit union CEO with deep experience in financial coaching and leadership development. He works at the intersection of financial wellness, behavior change, and community-based empowerment. [https://ronaldohardy.com/]

Unlocking Possibilities: The role of Open Payments in African speculative fiction

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

The diversity and innovation of the early internet have settled into a weird monopolistic set of apps that cater to the average American or European. Which is great if you’re an average American or European, but not especially helpful for anyone slightly more diverse. And, if you’re African, you lose out in ways that range from things that feel like casual ignorance all the way to outright hostility. In this episode of the Interledger Salon, three African speculative fiction creators, Gavin Chait, Dilman Dila, and Cheryl Ntumy, discuss their experiences and frustrations of publishing while being African, joined by Jeremiah Lee from the Interledger Foundation, as we assess the state of open payments and our hopes for widespread adoption of the standard.

Host: Gavin Chait: Marseille-based South African economic migrant, data scientist, researcher, engineer, sometime-traveler, and African speculative-fiction author. His novels tell stories of migration, climate change, and the founding mythologies of communities in transition. Gavin Chait and Why Thawk Mastodon: @GavinChait@wandering.shop

Guest:

Cheryl Ntumy: Ghana-based SFF author and founding member of Petlo Literary Arts, a non-profit that develops and promotes creative writing from Botswana. She is also a founding member of the Sauútiverse Collective, an African speculative fiction collaborative world building project. Cheryl Ntumy
Dilman Dila: Ugandan writer, film maker and a social activist. His books include Where Rivers Go To Die, which was shortlisted for the PKD Awards (2024), his films include, “What Happened in Room 13”, has been watched more than 8 million times online. He is currently working on his third feature film, about decentralized governance. Dilman DilaMastodon: @dilmandila@mograph.social
Jeremiah Lee: a tech lead with the Interledger Foundation, supporting its grantees in building an open, global payment network. He previously worked on data infrastructure at Stripe, hardware integrations at Spotify, and web APIs at Fitbit. Jeremiah Lee Mastodon: @Jeremiah@alpaca.gold

Trust and Tradition: A Deep Dive into ROSCAs and Digital Financial Solutions

Fri, 14 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Interledger Salon, Andria Barrett hosts a discussion on ROSCAs (Rotating Savings and Credit Associations) and their impact on financial inclusion. Joined by Philip Cargill and Abdul Andan, the conversation explores personal experiences with ROSCAs, the importance of trust, the potential for digital transformation, and the role of technology in making these traditional financial systems more accessible globally. The guests share their journeys from Jamaica and Nigeria to Canada, highlighting projects like Abdul’s Chit Link app which aims to modernize ROSCA practices while maintaining trust and transparency. The episode delves into the challenges and opportunities of integrating ROSCAs into the wider financial system, emphasizing their role in creating a more equitable financial future.

Beyond Currency: Reimagining Money and Digital Futures

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 11:00:00 +0000

In this episode of the Interledger Salon, our host, Xiaoji Song, an artist and researcher, explores the complex relationship between money, digital finance, and financial inclusion. Joining her are guests Sarah Habib and Anuja Ghosalkar. Sarah, a fintech expert, highlights the importance of bottom-up approaches to digital finance that consider cultural differences and trust issues. Meanwhile, Anuja, a documentary theater practitioner, shares insights on how strategies for digital financial inclusion vary due to the evolving nature of money and the financial system. How do our differing understandings of money and the financial system shape our access to and engagement with them? In this episode, we welcome two guests who possess a unique perspective on money, our financial systems, and the approaches they advocate for advancing digital financial inclusion in the communities they serve.

Practising financial inclusion in the Global South

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 11:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the third iteration of the Interledger Salon, hosted by Smriti Parsheera, Research Ambassador at the Interledger Foundation. This session features a discussion on financial inclusion with James Ogada from the Busara Center in Kenya and Dr. Susan Thomas from the XKDR Forum in India.

The dialogue explores financial inclusion as more than just access to financial services—it’s a means to enhance economic resilience and well-being for individuals and households. Participants discuss innovative, locally tailored approaches to financial services, emphasizing the importance of behavioral insights and robust consumer protection frameworks.

The conversation highlights the value of interdisciplinary collaboration and the need for innovative, context-specific solutions to boost financial inclusion across diverse regions in the Global South.

For more information about Susan Thomas’s work with XKDR Forum, visit their website.

To learn about James Odaga and the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, check out their website.

You can find more information on Smriti Parsheera’s research Ambassadorship for the Interledger Foundation on our community forum, where she posts her updates.

Interledger on Campus

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:21:37 +0000

In this episode of the Interledger Salon. We focus on the Interledger Foundation’s work on campus involvement and partnerships with universities. Our guests, Dr. Allan Davids of the University of Cape Town, Dr. Andrew Mangle of Bowie State University, and Interledger Foundation’s CEO and President Briana Marbury, discuss the challenges and successes of integrating open payments into university curriculums. The conversation highlights the importance of education in expanding digital financial inclusion.

The episode also explores the program’s evolution at Bowie State University and the University of Cape Town, including the development of a one-week intensive open payments program and the Hackathon, which resulted in innovative use cases by participating students.

We hope you enjoy our discussions on digital financial inclusion and the future of payments. Please like and subscribe to the Interledger Salon hosted by Future|Money Podcast.

For more information on the grant process and requirements, please follow this link

The Interledger-NextGen Higher Education Grant will accept project considerations for a project length of up to 12 months and for funding up to USD 50,000 to cover work on the proposed project and any costs associated with event participation, training, or software development.

Interested universities can submit their letter of intent via Submittable.

Why Digital Financial Inclusion Matters

Mon, 18 Nov 2024 15:21:37 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce the first Interledger Salon on the Future|Money podcast, a quarterly panel hosted by the Interledger Foundation with facilitation by Chief Program Officer Chris Lawrence. These discussions aim to connect our community to multilateral stakeholders in the digital financial inclusion sector. As such, we invited Jayshree Venkatesan from the Center for Financial Inclusion, Ed Cable from Mifos, and Paula Hunter, Executive Director of Mojaloop Foundation, who all share our dedication to creating a fairer financial world. We hope you enjoy this episode of the Future|Money podcast presents The Interledger Salon.

#Stay tuned for more!

*This panel was recorded on March 15, 2024,