Stephen Ezekiel

Business Analyst @systemspecsnig | Product & Project Manager @papss_africa | Cross-border Payments | Psychology | Writing — Mission: @proxpert_ng @crownnygold

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

Make no small plans. 🌍

[Pan-African Payment And Settlement System - PAPSS @papss_africa]

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐏𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐖𝐑𝐘 2026, 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚'𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞! 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐰 https://t.co/DkiW80bton

Africa’s payments ecosystem is moving fast. Local currency settlement, stablecoins, CBDCs, interoperability, cross border trade, AI, payment innovation and connectivity to global networks are reshaping how Africa pays, trades and connects with the world.

Co-hosted by Pan-African Payment & Settlement System - PAPSS and the National Bank of Ethiopia, this year’s conference will bring together over 1,000 industry leaders from Africa and beyond under the theme: "𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚’𝐬 𝐒𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐏𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

Expect 2 days of panel discussions, keynote presentations, fireside chats, roundtables, side events, exhibitions and networking, culminating in the COWRY Awards Gala Dinner, celebrating excellence across Africa’s payments ecosystem.

🗓️ 26–27 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 2026
📍 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐤𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐇𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥, 𝐀𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐚, 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚

Ready to join us?
- 𝐏𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐒 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬: Contact us to obtain your participant registration code.
- 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬, 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: Registration is free.
- 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐬 & 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐬: Partner with COWRY 2026 and position your institution alongside the leaders shaping the future of payments in Africa. Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities are available.

The future of African payments is being written. Be in the room where it happens.

#PAPSSCOWRY2026 #COWRY2026 #Payments #Fintech #Banking #Africa #Ethiopia #AddisAbaba #Afreximbank #AfricanUnion #AfCFTA #PAPSS

@afreximbank @_AfricanUnion @AfCFTA

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

@misty_abisola A truly well-deserved win. Congratulations to you! 💐

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

A moving woman…

[Take the Disability Quiz in my bio 🙏🏽 @misty_abisola]

A moving woman has finally met her fully funded Master’s scholarship at the number one school in the world for Development Studies. 😎

After dedicating October/November 2025 to February 2026 to applying for opportunities, I tried to prepare my mind for anything. Then the rejections started coming in, and I think they got to me a bit.

I mean, I’m a Cannes Lions-winning copywriter. I contributed to Nigeria and West Africa’s first-ever win at the most prestigious international festival of creativity. I’ve executed award-winning marketing communications and advertising campaigns, won pitches for local and international brands, consulted for startups on brand and communications strategy, led creative teams at some of the leading advertising agencies in Africa, led the communications team at Africa’s leading civic tech organization, mentored over 50 copywriters through my creative agency, founded a disability-inclusive creative talent management and advocacy company, led the team that created Nigeria’s first Albinism Advocacy Pageant, published the first-ever dictionary of disability-inclusive language, co-founded an adaptive clothing line for people with disabilities, started a disability-focused media company, and built a gamified disability education tech product over the last ten years of my professional career. Surely I could pitch myself well enough to win a scholarship? 😭

I was the person people came to when they needed to sharpen a pitch or proposal, review an application, or prepare for an interview. Turns out, I was about to be humbled.

I started wondering if it was my 4.45 GPA. Or the nine-year gap since my BSc. Maybe I had waited too long. Maybe I was no longer the kind of candidate these opportunities were looking for. Maybe I even needed to scale my work or publish more research.

When I made the post below, I had stopped expecting anything else. But God, and His perfect humbling twists, started sending the YES-es. Every time I thought I had received my best offer, another one would come.

I’ve achieved a lot of things in my life, but you see this particular win? I still can’t find the words. Just pure gratitude in my heart. God really did His big one. He truly, truly crowned all my hard work and sleepless nights with Sussex. 😉

I’m officially a Commonwealth Scholar, you guys!! 🥳🥳

- UC Berkeley Mastercard Foundation Scholarship ❌
- University of Oxford Mastercard Foundation Scholarship ❌
- Oxford OCIS ❌
- Oxford Ertegun ❌
- Oxford Clarendon ❌
- Oxford Weidenfeld Hoffmann ❌
- Chevening Scholarship ❌
- University of Cambridge Mastercard Foundation Scholarship ❌
- Gates Cambridge Scholarship ❌
- Edinburgh Mastercard Foundation Scholarship ❌
- Commonwealth Shared Scholarship University of Aberdeen ❌
- Commonwealth Shared Scholarship SOAS ❌
- Erasmus Mundus MAPP ❌
- Erasmus EMMIE ❌
- Erasmus GLOCAL ❌
- Erasmus MAGMa ❌
- Erasmus FLOURISH ❌
- University of Bristol Think Big Scholarship ❌
- ERASMUS GLOBED ❌
- ERASMUS NOHA ❌
- Dalai Lama Fellowship ❌
- Big Bets Fellowship ❌
- The Obama Foundation Leaders Africa Program ❌
- One Future 2026 Scholarship ❌
- Jodi Harris Scholarship ❌
- See It Be It Cannes Lion Fellowship ❌
- University of Nottingham Developing Solutions Masters Scholarship ❌
- IAFFE Feminist Economics School Fellowship ❌
- CIPS Youth Future Summit 2026 Scholarship ❌
- Swedish Institute Scholarships for Global Professionals (SISGP) ❌
- MTN Media Innovation Programme ❌
Youth Empowerment Forum ❌
- Lund University Global Scholarship ❌
- Erasmus CLMCE- Scholarship reserved list ⚠️
- Erasmus MARIHE - Admitted, tuition free offer 💎
- NTU High Achievers Award/ Fee Reduction/ Other Partial Scholarships in 3 schools ✅
- University of Manchester Global Futures Scholarship ✅
- COMMONWEALTH SHARED SCHOLARSHIP, INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX ✅

Thank you God for counting me worthy!! 🤲🏽

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

🫧

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

A moving man…

[Idris Ayinde, FCA, CFA @hedrees_ayinde]

I wrote about how I got my Deloitte role.
I was invited for a test on Monday but invite was sent Friday evening. Then, I was rationing my data and since I didn’t have much to do over the weekend, I planed to subscribe on Monday.

Only to check my email on Monday to see I have missed the test. I sent an email to be rescheduled which luckily happened.

The new test day was a day after ICAN results. After we did the test, the HR Manager asked all the candidates how many of us was ICAN qualified and it was only me.

Apparently, the Accounting Advisory team needed Chartered accountant to resume quickly. That was how I did two interviews on the same day and next thing I know, when can you resume?

I always dressed appropriately when going for test or interview. I was wearing suit already so was interview dressed 😊.

My life changed in a split seconds. That set the trajectory for the rest of my career.

[Idris Ayinde, FCA, CFA @hedrees_ayinde]

I wrote about how I got my Deloitte role.
I was invited for a test on Monday but invite was sent Friday evening. Then, I was rationing my data and since I didn’t have much to do over the weekend, I planed to subscribe on Monday.

Only to check my email on Monday to see I have missed the test. I sent an email to be rescheduled which luckily happened.

The new test day was a day after ICAN results. After we did the test, the HR Manager asked all the candidates how many of us was ICAN qualified and it was only me.

Apparently, the Accounting Advisory team needed Chartered accountant to resume quickly. That was how I did two interviews on the same day and next thing I know, when can you resume?

I always dressed appropriately when going for test or interview. I was wearing suit already so was interview dressed 😊.

My life changed in a split seconds. That set the trajectory for the rest of my career.

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

🎂😂❤️

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

27 🎈

#birthday #27onthe27th #decadesarestillhappening

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

I got balloons! 🎈

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

I got balloons! 🎈

[Proxpert Consulting @proxpert_ng]

Happy New Month, Tolu. 6/12 already! Are you still on track for that project?

Rooting for you.

-

#newmonth #proxpert #bookpublishing #digitalproducts #strategy

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

It’s been exactly a week since I spoke here.

One minute, you're in the thick of your final year project, wondering what life after school looks like; the next, you're speaking to over 2500 students who have now set foot into the same stream.

Life really comes at you so fast.

[Olabisi Onabanjo University Students’ UNION @StudentUnionOOU]

https://t.co/GQO6OmdFoT

He doesn't just talk about growth, he builds people into it. 🔥

Stephen Ezekiel is stepping in as a panelist, bringing real-world insights from shaping narratives, scaling brands, and driving impact across Africa.

This session is one you can't afford to miss. Not registered yet? Use this link

https://t.co/GQO6OmdFoT

#FromOOUToGlobalAccess #OOUFinalYear2026 #OOUConference2026 #OOUToTheWorld #RitarockEduConsult

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

Card payments feel seamless because complex systems work in the background.

Yesterday, I moderated our Internal Knowledge Session across the SystemSpecs Group on The Hidden Mechanics of Card Payments, expertly facilitated by Rilwan Sanni.

This is Day 1.

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

💐

[Proxpert Consulting @proxpert_ng]

The future of content is here. If you want to stay ahead of the trends, speak to our team of brilliant content strategists.

Our DM is always open. 🙂

-

#contentstratergy #proxpert #socialmediamanagement #branding #writing

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

Delay is not Delilah. 🙏

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

Stepped into the office the other day and found this gift bag on my desk, with a handwritten note from my manager.

Grateful for leadership that recognises effort and excellence.

Happy Valentine's Day to you! 💐

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

Meet me at the shore. 💌

[Stephen Ezekiel @stephenezekiel_]

If you or anyone you know fits this role, please send a DM or write us an email.