ABOUT
I'm Bernard: an engineer and founder with nearly 20 years building the systems that move money.
I started writing switching software at Alcatel-Lucent, then built transaction engines for banks, where a single bug could cost someone their savings. From there: leading engineering teams and shipping products for banks and telcos across 16 African countries, partnering with Nigerian regulators on fraud frameworks that cut fraudulent transactions by 25%, and rolling out Salesforce cloud across West Africa with NthPoint, a Salesforce partner firm.
I co-founded KoboTrack (acquired) and scaled Ydev, a tech acceleration firm, 20x through COVID, with 4,000+ students across 11 countries, recognized in the GSV Elite 200. Along the way, I lectured and mentored 180+ founders at the Nigerian University of Technology & Management, and won MTN Nigeria's CIO Award for best vendor team three years running.
I'm now at MIT as a Sloan Fellow MBA candidate and Visiting Fellow, embedded within the entrepreneurial ecosystem, building Cambio - a modern financial infrastructure layer for cross-border payments. The belief driving it: the next generation of financial infrastructure won't be an extension of SWIFT. It will be something fundamentally new.
One conviction anchors the work I do: the systems that move money should work for everyone, not just the few.
Ventures
A portfolio of companies, products, and systems — some with friends
The Arc
Engineer → Architect → Operator → Founder → Ecosystem Builder
Operating System
02
Design for constraint.
Unreliable power. Inconsistent connectivity. Fragmented regulation. If your system only works under ideal conditions, it doesn't work. Constraint is the best design brief.
04
Talent is leverage.
The highest-ROI investment is always people. Hire for slope, not intercept. Build teams that can operate without you.
The work I'm proudest of is the work that walks out the door.
For nearly two decades, I've been part of how a generation of African technology professionals found their footing — not just technically, but as leaders, communicators, and thinkers who know how to navigate organisations and build things that last.
Some of them now lead engineering teams at major firms. Others have founded companies, raised capital, and built products used by millions. I don't keep count. But I notice. That's the work that compounds.
If you're building something serious and want a thinking partner who has seen a few cycles, I'm open to conversations.
Speaking Topics
Credentials
Writings
