Samuel Ngadi: AI is Not a Job-stealing 

Samuel Ngadi is a Customer Success Leader with 15 years of experience bridging technology and financial markets across EMEA, including the UK, Nigeria, and Ghana. He has driven the adoption of institutional trading and analytics platforms at Thomson Reuters (FXall), Refinitiv, London Stock Exchange Group, and Moody’s Analytics—supporting banks and financial institutions through currency-trading system launches and market-data rollouts. Ngadi specialises in translating complex software platforms into operational value for traders, analysts, and portfolio managers. In this interview with THISDAY, he says his focus is on unlocking access for Nigeria’s informal economy through AI and data-driven innovation, bridging the gap between untapped entrepreneurs and the formal economy

You’ve built a career that spans Nigeria, the UK, and the wider EMEA region. How would you describe the importance of your work in helping financial institutions run efficiently?

Customer success in financial markets is about collapsing the distance between software capability and user value. My work bridges traders, portfolio managers, and analysts – all the professionals that rely on financial technology – with the tools they need to make faster, sharper decisions. Markets run on data access, workflow automation, and trust. By ensuring seamless adoption of platforms and technologies, I’ve helped institutions accelerate decision-making, eliminate operational friction, and stay competitive. It’s not abstract; it directly translates to better capital allocation, improved spreads, and institutional resilience. Technology is only valuable if it effectively reaches the trading floor or financial markets.

Looking back at your early experiences, what key moments or influences pushed you toward solving significant challenges in technology and financial service systems?

Meeting Phil Weisberg back in 2012 and understanding FXall’s disruption of institutional FX trading showed me that technology reshapes power dynamics in markets. When Thomson Reuters, a company I worked for, acquired FXall in 2012, it proved that scale wins. Reading the book Flash Boys by Michael Lewis crystallised something crucial: microsecond variations in technology translate to real economic effects. Locally, watching NAFEX’s launch in 2017—and the CBN’s adoption/unification of it as the official rate in 2021 felt pivotal; it basically ‘platformed’ the parallel market, drove transparency, and ended off-system transacting. What these three events have in common is that they showed me in different ways how software systems don’t just improve efficiency; they democratize market access.”

In your nearly 15-year career, you’ve witnessed different developments in Tech. What core qualities or values helped you adapt to these changes?

Growth mindset and curiosity. Technology evolved from on-site systems to cloud platforms, but the core challenge remains: helping humans adapt. I’ve learned to embrace change and enjoy the learning journey, and I’m always looking to understand ‘why’. That curiosity extends to the technology users: their anxiety about new workflows is real and valid. When we deployed Matching or migrated platforms, I stayed obsessively close to the floor. Enjoying the learning process means treating each rollout as a master class in organisational behaviour, which keeps me ahead and effective. People sense authenticity; they would follow leaders who are genuinely learning too.

You’ve led and participated in the launch and rollout of important digital products, including currency-trading systems and market-data platforms. What did leading such impactful projects teach you about managing complex technology initiatives in Africa?

Firstly, I learned to adapt global best practices to local realities—respecting Nigeria’s regulatory nuance while leveraging EMEA playbooks. One-size-fits-all fails in Africa. Secondly, product launching is 20% technology and 80% ecosystem alignment. My active participation in the roll-out of currency-trading systems in Nigeria and Ghana some years ago taught me that you cannot simply activate a platform. You must build a tripartite partnership: the vendor (product), the users (banks/treasurers), and the regulator (CBN). Physical presence matters in a digital world. Banks need confidence that audit trails are clean, compliance is assured, and the central bank approves. Success, especially in Africa, requires early and continuous stakeholder buy-in.

What major technology problem in Nigeria have you felt personally driven to help improve or transform?

There is a data desert around activities in the informal economy. For example, Nigeria’s informal economy accounts for 60-70% of GDP, yet remains very opaque. This is the financial system’s blind spot and biggest whitespace. While formal-sector data gaps are closing, access to credible information on SMEs, traders, and household enterprises remains fragmented. For example, many Banks and many financial lenders today still reject viable borrowers simply because they lack collateral or formal financials. That inefficiency costs the real economy.

You’ve helped organisations adopt AI-powered tools for more intelligent decision-making. What do you think people misunderstand most about AI’s potential in Africa?

AI is not a job-stealing robot; it’s high time we saw it as a force multiplier. The misconception is that GenerativeAI will replace professionals. The reality is Human + AI is a winning formula. Agentic AI technologies have raised the bar, but they amplify human judgment rather than replace it. In Africa, our opportunity is not using AI for writing emails, it’s leveraging Predictive AI to address whitespace challenges like credit scoring the unbanked, Pattern Recognition for detecting fraud, and so on. But the main bottleneck is not AI capability; it is our data infrastructure. Build solid data systems first; AI becomes the dividend you harvest from that investment.

Having worked closely with institutions across other parts of Africa, Europe and the Middle East, how do you see Nigeria’s digital progress compared to global standards? What stands out to you?

Direct comparison is unfair and lacks context. Nigeria leads Africa materially in mobile adoption, payment innovation, and tech talent. Yet we lag the UK on capital markets depth. Our NIBSS and instant transfers perform better than many international systems; yet post-trade settlement remains fragmented. The elephant in the room that we need to address to start bridging is not talent or vision; it’s legacy operational infrastructure. Our youthful, mobile-first population and our untapped potential are all major advantages too. So I don’t believe we’re trailing per se; we’re just unevenly developed. But that’s an opportunity, not a deficit.

From your perspective, what role should African regulators play in helping financial systems modernise, and where do you see the most significant opportunity for positive change?

I see the role of regulators as farmers, not gatekeepers. They should continue to encourage the sustainable digitisation of workflows and promote standardisation. Expand Regulatory Sandboxes for new asset classes, not bans. One of the most significant opportunities is encouraging data-sharing agreements between regulated entities. That transparency unlocks many possibilities, such as reducing fraud and deepening markets.

Many people fear that AI will replace jobs. Based on your experience, how should professionals and organisations in Africa be preparing for the future of work?

AI will automate processing; humans must make their own judgment. Analysts used to spend 80% of their time cleaning data in Excel; today, that is changing. AI will handle that. Professionals should become translators and AI Usage strategists — people who interpret AI outputs for business strategy, ethics, and risk. The future belongs to those who can combine technical literacy with human judgment and ethical reasoning. Organisations must retrain relentlessly. Those resisting change may not survive.

If you could highlight one practical AI solution that you believe could significantly transform Africa in the coming years, which would it be—and why?

Some of our biggest challenges on the continent are infrastructure, access to credit, and poverty. Bridging the formal and informal economies will unlock billions in dormant capital for entrepreneurs, traders, and household enterprises. This is transformative because it’s not sci-fi; it’s solvable today with the data available. Access to technology is the cornerstone of economic inclusion in Africa.