Track 4: The Crucial Intersection | The Miseducation of Financial Technology

Casey Ariel Dike'
Nov 11, 2025
2 min read

A fintech education mixtape.

🎶 Track 4: The Intersection — Where Passion Meets Fintech

There’s a dangerous myth that I've heard circulated across scholarly circles and incubators. This myth says that to be innovative, Black and Brown communities must think “bigger” than the industries they’ve always thrived in.

These leaders encourage welders, stylists, contractors, and creators to abandon the very crafts that sustain their neighborhoods — to chase something more... “tech.”

But that’s not innovation at all. It’s the abandonment of self-sufficiency.

The Truth About “Bigger” Thinking

Common industries within Black communities — haircare, beauty, trade skills, local manufacturing, design — are perfect for fintech transformation.

Fintech isn’t a separate universe. It’s a layer.

Fintech sits on top of what already works and makes it stronger, faster, and fairer.

The question isn’t, “How do we pull people out of their passions?”

It’s, “How do we build financial systems that support the passions already fueling our economies?”

Every Craft Needs a Financial Engine

Do welders not need easeful payment systems when traditional banks are miles away?
Does a hairstylist running her own salon not deserve automated tax tools that honor her time and labor?
Should a local mechanic or caterer still depend on cash-only transactions in a world where digital payments dominate?

The reality is staggering: 70% of banks have vanished across the U.S. since 1984.

There isn’t a single industry untouched by that decline.

Communities are already adapting.

What they need now are innovators who stay rooted — people who know the realities and financial rhythms of their trades.

Stay Rooted. Lead Forward.

Fintech isn’t only for coders and engineers. Engineers can be hired.

What the world needs are the visionaries — the welders, stylists, contractors, and artisans — who understand the heartbeat of community industries and can lead the charge in shaping the tools that sustain them.

Innovation doesn’t have to mean leaving the village.

It means elevating it.

When people build at the intersection of what they love and what their communities need, that’s where the future of finance lives.

🎶 Next Up: Track 5 — Breaking Ground

In Track 5, we’ll explore how we’re centering HBCU students in fintech leadership — beginning with our work at Alabama A&M University, where students are learning how vast and accessible the fintech space truly is.

Blaze Group’s curriculum is now expanding across institutions, and we’re partnering with the Interledger Foundation to fund HBCUs interested in bringing fintech coursework to their campuses.

Follow our journey. The next generation isn’t waiting for a seat at the table — they’re building the rails themselves.