Michael Mbuthia

Michael is a financial services professional with 15+ years of experience cutting across digital financial services, strategy formulation, project Management and business development. His working knowledge spans across Banking, Aviation, Agriculture, and impact development covering multiple geographies in Africa.

Michael was the project lead for Rwanda National Digital Payments Platform working directly with Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR) and National Bank Rwanda (BNR) spearheading Interoperability blueprint development and rollout. Prior to this he served as Pesalink Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Kenya Bankers Association payments services company, Integrated Payment Services Limited (IPSL-Pesalink) and was instrumental in leading the industry towards launching instant payment platform. Previously he was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for a Tier 1 Bank in Kenya leading its Cyber and IT Security department and also worked for Kenya Airways as a Flight Operations Officer.

A graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Technology and Innovation, he holds two Masters degrees, MBA in Strategic Management and Finance from United States International University and M.Sc. in Information Technology from Nairobi University respectively and is currently undertaking a PhD in Information Technology at Cape Town University South Africa with research interests in Digital Sovereignty, Interoperability, and Central Bank Digital Currencies.

When he is not studying or deploying technology solutions, Michael is the Secretary at his alma mater “United States International University” and is passionate about youth mentorship at USIU and Jomo Kenyatta University CyberWarrior mentorship programs. He is also an avid CrossFit enthusiast.