Name: kingsley Ikart

Title: Chief Business Development Officer

Organisation: Blochq Ltd

Kingsley has over 15 years experience in the Fintech space. while he was in charge of the utility division in Blochq

Limited, the division saw immense growth under his stewardship in 2020 based on his achievements in the company he was made the Chief Executive Officer in one of the strategic subsidiry of the company-Gpay Instant Solutions which is licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a Payment Solution Service Provider.

He has overseen the building and development of local and international payment products and networks of majority

of Nigeria’s Tier-1 banks. He was part of the team that developed the POS system that processed Nigeria's first online

real-time POS transactions in 2003. He championed the team that conceptualized and launched the West Africa's first

indigenously issued and processed online real-time international payment card in Nigeria, “Ecobank MasterCard”.

Kingsley played a pivotal & strategic role as the Group Head, Business Development in Cards Technology Limited (CTL),

A MasterCard Third Party Processor & Member Electronic Service Providing Company; he acquired 12 Nigerian Banks to

process their MasterCard transactions. While at Cards Technology, him and his team conceptualized and drove the

MasterCard Credit card for the elite customers of Ecobank, GTbank, Bank PHB and Intercontinental Bank. He also

introduced and drove the sales of MasterCard Debit ISIS a locally denominated currency card (in conjunction with CBN

and MasterCard) to the Nigerian banks. He was part of the team that engaged the Nigerian Banks to migrate their

magstripe cards to Chip and PIN (EMV). Kingsley has also had successful executive management stints at Abbey Mortgage Bank PLC, Venture Garden Group and GlooPro.

Thank you to the 2,000 leaders who’ve generously done the 7 Questions on Leadership!

I hope kingsley's answers will encourage you in your leadership journey. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Jonno White

1. What have you found most challenging as a leader?

Micromanaging: This is a major challenge that leaders face in managing people and resources. The complex balance between giving members the freedom to work and overseeing the projects is not easy. Not to mention handling the team’s dynamics and making decisions that influence the organization.

One of the ways I handle this pressure is to empower others to take on some assistant roles. As a leader, you should assess the strengths of your team members and delegate tasks that suit each member.

2. How did you become a leader? Can you please briefly tell the story?

It was in 2008 when my immediate Boss resigned and we needed to implement a huge project with a government parastatal while my MD/CEO had placed an advert on the newspaper looking for a candidate that will befit the role of the project manager, I had already started implementing the project and was doing very well. He got good feedbacks from the project owners. At this point he stopped looking for a candidate and immediately asked me to assume that position.

3. How do you structure your work days from waking up to going to sleep?

I wake up 6am every morning say my daily prayers, dash to my mini gym for 45 minutes, take my shower, drink a cup of coffee while I write my to-do list for that day.

4. What's a recent leadership lesson you've learned for the first time or been reminded of?

People see things differently and always listen.

5. What's one book that has had a profound impact on your leadership so far? Can you please briefly tell the story of how that book impacted your leadership?

Who moved my cheese- Richard Bronson

6. If you could only give one piece of advice to a young leader, what would you say to them?

Be humble, learn and be innovative.

7. What is one meaningful story that comes to mind from your time as a leader, so far?

Procrastination is dangerous.