Infrastructure for markets that still settle on trust.
Barklem&Chi builds and governs technology vehicles that hold the facts a market disputes — who a counterparty is, what they control, what was agreed, and what actually happened — in markets where those facts are still re-established by hand, deal by deal.
What the group does
Infrastructure architecture
We design systems that hold state rather than describe it. Identity, authority, capacity and custody are evidenced once and carried forward, so counterparties stop re-verifying the same facts in every transaction.
Venture incubation
Where the friction is structural rather than commercial, we incubate a dedicated company to carry it — its own market, its own product, its own accountability, sharing the group framework rather than duplicating it.
Strategic governance
Technical standards, compliance policy and reporting obligations are defined at group level and inherited. A vehicle does not negotiate the standard it operates to; it is built against it.
Ecosystem
The whole ecosystemCommodities & trade
In operationnelum.tech
Institutional marketplace facilitation for the global precious metals and physical commodities trade: business verification, stage-gated transaction workflows, and verified funding mechanisms.
Emerging market fintech
In developmentveridity.tech
Digital wealth and capital infrastructure for the West African landscape, in development for the Nigerian market and currently in closed private beta.
How we build
A venture is a framework before it is a product.
Locate the friction
Identify a structural failure in trade or emerging-market finance that software can hold, not merely document.
Write the framework
Set the technical standard, compliance policy and operating model the vehicle will be held to, before development begins.
Build the vehicle
Incubate a dedicated company with its own market, product and accountability, inheriting the group framework rather than rewriting it.
Hold the standard
Govern it from the centre — policy, controls and reporting — so it operates to international standards as it scales.
Operating standards
One framework, applied across the group.
Verification standards, record formats, workflow controls and reporting obligations are defined at group level and inherited by each vehicle. The practical test is portability: a transaction completed in one market should be legible to counterparties and auditors in another, without translation.
- Technical framework
- Group-defined, inherited
- Compliance policy
- Written before build
- Operating model
- Per vehicle, centrally governed
- Records and audit
- Immutable, audit-formatted
Leadership
Barklem&Chi combines the cross-border governance and technical structuring work of Christopher Barklem with the operational execution and market positioning of Helena Chikezie. Enquiries reach them directly.
Leadership profile- Helena Chikezie
- Chief Executive Officer
- Christopher Barklem
- Chief Architecture Officer
Founding office
Complex assets, anchored in software-driven environments.
Enquiries from institutions, partners and technical teams are read by the founding office, not routed to a sales function.