Leaders Series: Charlene Chen @ BitPesa
By: Meltem Demirors
Tags: Africa, Bitcoin, Women, Blockchain, Finance

Issue 11 — March 13th, 2017

This series highlights the unique stories of leaders from various communities across the growing digital currency and blockchain technology industry. The goal is to showcase the fantastic work these leaders are all doing at different levels of their respective organizations, and to encourage more people at all stages of their careers join the revolution we’re creating, together!

Charlene Chen is the COO of BitPesa

She’s been a part of the bitcoin and blockchain community for over 3 years.

How did you get into bitcoin?

I first became fascinated by Bitcoin in 2013 when watching a TED Talk on Alternative Currencies, and formally joined the Blockchain industry in January 2014 when my long-time friend Elizabeth Rossiello (CEO, BitPesa) invited me to join BitPesa as its Chief Operating Officer.

What did you do before you got into this?

I started my career with 4 years as a CRM Systems Analyst at Deloitte Consulting. During my MBA at UC Berkeley, I did a summer internship at an Internet Services Provider in Ghana and then the next 4 years working in product development, sales and marketing of mobile financial services for various social enterprises and international non-profit organizations such as KickStart International, TechnoServe, and Grameen Foundation.

What’s been the most interesting experience you’ve had in your role so far?

What I love most about my role is working with an incredibly diverse team of women and men who span Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal and Estonia and have worked for companies including Google, Barclay’s, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Moneygram, Interswitch, Deloitte, PwC, and Hogan Lovells.

I’ve also really enjoyed being part of an incredibly exciting evolution from an early stage startup focused on $100 Bitcoin remittances to Kenya to a VC-backed company empowering $100,000+ transactions between Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and the rest of the world (US, Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East)!

What problem is BitPesa solving? Why do you feel passionate about this?

Payments to, from, and within Africa are incredibly painful and expensive. There is limited payment infrastructure (banks and payment rails), a high dependency upon the US dollar as an intermediary currency, and limited forex liquidity in most African countries.

BitPesa leverages Blockchain settlement to significantly increase the efficiency, increase the speed, and lower the cost of wholesale FX and payments for African SMEs, international remittance companies, and multinational companies.

I’m passionate about what BitPesa is doing because by making African F/X and payments more accessible and affordable, more African businesses can do business with the rest of the world and more international businesses can do business with Africa. This leads to significant economic growth in the most exciting emerging market I’ve ever worked in.

As you think about the evolution of the bitcoin and blockchain ecosystem, what do you think is limiting the growth of the space? What kind of catalyst is needed?

I’ve been happy to see an increasing amount of investment in the Bitcoin and Blockchain space, and a lot of research and whitepapers by traditional institutions such as banks, consulting firms and law firms, but I think we need more stakeholders to continue working together to approach Central Bank regulators and work with them to draft and pass policies to regulate and supervise digital currency companies.

What do you think will surprise people as blockchain technology continues to grow and develop?

I may be biased, but I’ve always believed that both the financial and non-financial applications of Blockchain technology will be significantly more impactful in emerging markets like sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, than in developed markets like the US or Europe.

Connect with Charlene on LinkedIn!