1st Annual Roundtable on Digital Poverty & Cashless Societies

The 1st Annual Roundtable organized by the International Trade, Investment and Corporate Governance Think Tank programme at the Global Research Network will address Digital Poverty and Cashless Societies. Our guest speakers will discuss how the pandemic has accelerated the move towards a more digitally-centred world, its impact on digital poverty and the ways in which tech companies can play a positive role. This event is organised by Dr Wael Saghir and hosted by Dr Dimitrios Kafternais and Ibukun Lyiola-Omisore.

Speaker Bios

Dr. Fabio S Dias is a Lecturer of Finance and Econometrics at the University of Surrey, Guildford (UK). Prior to this role he worked as a Senior Manager for the Analytics & Modelling Team of Lloyds Banking Group and as a Vice President for the Front Office Technology at Credit Suisse. Currently his main research focus is the use of quantum information science to enhance financial stress testing and pricing of derivatives.

Dr. Marco Jacquemet teaches courses in communication and culture, intercultural communication, geographies of communication, and justice and social change at the University of San Francisco. His scholarship focuses on the communicative mutations produced by the circulation of migrants and media idioms in the Mediterranean area. His more recent book project is called Transidioma: Language and Power in the 21st Century. He is also present in Italian media activist networks, where he investigates the link between media and power.

Chantal Maritz
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Partner: Strategy&

Chantal Maritz is a Partner in Strategy& (part of the PwC Consulting network) with over 20 years’ experience in delivering Industry transforming projects. She drives sustainable change at Industry level, particularly across the Digital Community, Financial Services and Regulatory Change.
Chantal leads the Payments Transformation practice for PwC Africa and her core focus is on assisting Clients in defining new strategies, new markets and business models to move into white spaces and create unique customer experiences and to embrace innovation opportunities and partnerships presented by the Digital ecosystems.
Chantal has global experience advising Central Banks, Banks, Fintechs, Technology Service Providers, Governments, Telco’s, Payment Operators and Payment Associations on various elements across their Digital transformation and payments modernisation journeys.
Chantal is currently leading a few country transformational engagements across the South African Industry to support payments modernisation and digitisation, notably the Rapid Payments Programme, Digital Identity - The South African Narrative and the Establishment of the new Payments Industry Body.
Chantal is the Africa Territory Leader for the New World New Skills Initiative for PwC and leads cross functional teams in solving critical problems for Clients who are faced with workforce transformation and digital upskilling challenges. Workers and leaders are more aware than ever of the impact automation and technology will have on them, and each client may require a different level of intervention, from strategy to implementation methods, to help them solve this people-centric transformation brought on by digital technologies and the workforce of the future.

Chantal is driven by creating sustainable outcomes for her Clients by delivering programmes that address fundamental societal challenges like financial inclusion, and access to basic citizen services like identity and education.