Pascal Dozie: The Diamond Banker Who Changed Nigerian Finance

Pascal Dozie, who died on April 8 aged 85, lived a remarkable life in the brightness of innovation and the shadow of war.

He could see the future and, with the founding of Diamond Bank, changed Nigerian banking forever.

Two ideas were the pillars of his fortune.

The first was born on a day when Dozie travelled to Lagos on the rough and dusty road leading from the villages where he grew up in Eastern Nigeria. He saw thousands of traders looking over their shoulders with bundles of cash on the way to buy their wares in Lagos they took a huge risk among the many thieves and robbers.

Dozie wondered whether money could be sent a safer way and he began looking into bringing electronic transfers to Nigeria.