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Host: Chris Lawrence

Guest Panelists: 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

The Interledger Foundation’s work in digital financial inclusion has always been about pushing boundaries and creating opportunities. One of its most exciting initiatives is its engagement with universities worldwide, fostering the next generation of thinkers, developers, and leaders in open payments.

In this episode of the Future Money Podcast (released July 11, 2024), the Interledger Salon brings together Dr. Andrew Mangle of Bowie State University and Dr. Allan Davids of the University of Cape Town to discuss their institutions’ involvement with Interledger’s on-campus initiative. Talking with Interledger Foundation President and CEO, Briana Marbury, and facilitator Chris Lawrence, this conversation explores the successes and challenges of integrating open payments education into university curriculums and the ways students are engaging with financial technology in new and innovative ways.

Bringing Open Payments Education to Universities: From Idea to Action

Since the early days of her leadership at Interledger, Briana Marbury has seen education as a cornerstone of the foundation’s mission. She understood that for digital financial inclusion to truly become a reality, the students and future professionals entering this space needed to be part of the movement from the very beginning.

One of the earliest institutional partnerships in this initiative was Bowie State University, a historically Black college and university (HBCU) in Maryland, with Dr. Andrew Mangle leading the charge. Initially approached by Interledger with the idea of integrating open payments into the university setting, Dr. Mangle admits that it wasn’t an immediate “yes.” “We were hesitant at first,” Mangle recalls. “Was this just another company looking for quick recruitment? Was there real long-term commitment here? We had to ask those questions.”

But after deeper conversations, it became clear that Interledger was invested in building something sustainable, a program that would introduce students to open payments, provide hands-on learning experiences, and create career pathways in financial technology.

From Skepticism to Integration: Lessons from Bowie State

Once the partnership was established, the real challenge began: how to introduce open payments to students in a way that resonated with their experiences. One major realization was that open payments intersects multiple disciplines, including economics, business, computer science, and sociology.

Dr. Mangle and his colleagues found success by relating open payments to real-life student challenges, such as:

• Predatory lending practices: Many students face payday loans and high banking fees. Understanding open payments showed them alternative financial solutions.
• Equity in content monetization: Creative students running TikTok, Instagram, or Shopify businesses learned how open payments could provide fairer compensation models.
• International student remittances: Many students from abroad struggled with slow and expensive cross-border payments, a problem open payments can directly solve.

Through hackathons, micro-internships, and real-world applications, students not only learned about open payments but developed projects addressing financial inclusion gaps in their own communities.

Scaling Up: Expanding to the University of Cape Town

Building on the success at Bowie State, Interledger expanded its education initiative internationally, partnering with Dr. Allan Davids at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in South Africa.

Dr. Davids leads a Master’s in Financial Technology program - the only one of its kind in Africa. His work emphasizes interdisciplinary education, recognizing that FinTech professionals must understand economics, information systems, and computer science to succeed.

Through UCT’s Financial Innovation Hub, Dr. Davids supports students not just in learning FinTech, but in turning their ideas into viable start-ups. Given the high youth unemployment rates in South Africa, helping students build businesses rather than just seek jobs is a critical mission. “Many students have incredible ideas but lack the resources to commercialize them,” Davids explains. “We want to bridge that gap by providing technical and business support through our hub.”

A One-Week Intensive: Open Payments Bootcamp & Hackathon

To introduce UCT students to open payments, Dr. Davids and his team developed a five-day bootcamp in partnership with Interledger. The challenge? Take students from zero knowledge to developing real-world solutions in just one week.

This wasn’t just about lectures—it was about hands-on experimentation. Students from multiple disciplines (economics, information systems, engineering, and data science) were grouped into diverse teams, mirroring the real-world FinTech environment.

The program culminated in a hackathon, where students applied their learnings to develop innovative financial solutions.

“It was incredible to see students collaborate across disciplines, leveraging each other’s strengths to develop real solutions,” Davids notes.

Some of the standout use cases from the hackathon included:

• University Financial Aid Disbursement: Addressing the slow, opaque payment systems that delay student scholarships and housing allowances.
• Disaster Relief Payments: Streamlining international aid distribution for crisis-affected areas using open payments for faster, transparent transactions.
• Funeral Insurance Payments: In South Africa, many families maintain multiple funeral insurance policies to ensure they can afford dignified burials. A team developed an automated payment tracking system to prevent missed payments that could void coverage.

Dr. Mangle, who attended with students from Bowie State, remarked on the high level of creativity:

“These students were coming up with ideas more innovative than some industry professionals. The quality of thinking and execution was outstanding.”

The Challenges of Implementing Open Payments Education in Universities

While the outcomes have been transformative, both professors acknowledged that integrating open payments into university curricula comes with bureaucratic hurdles. “Getting funding into universities isn’t easy,” Mangle admits. “There’s a lot of red tape. But once you get past it, the opportunities are worth it.”

For institutions considering applying for Interledger’s Next-Gen Grants, Dr. Davids encourages them not to be intimidated by their unique contexts. “If your university is different, if your country has historically lacked funding, don’t see that as a weakness. That’s the very reason you should apply.”

The Future of Open Payments in Education

Both professors agree that the next step is expanding student awareness and engagement. This means:

• Integrating open payments concepts into standard coursework.
• Encouraging cross-disciplinary collaboration to reflect real-world FinTech work.
• Creating more career pathways through internships and partnerships with industry leaders.

Listen to the full podcast here: Interledger on Campus

Curious about the Next Gen Grant Program? Learn more.

Host: Chris Lawrence

Guest Panelists: 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