Leadership
Governance and execution, held by two principals.
Barklem&Chi combines the cross-border corporate governance and technical structuring expertise of Christopher Barklem with the operational execution and market positioning of Helena Chikezie. Together they lead a multidisciplinary team anchoring complex financial and physical assets into software-driven environments.
Chief Executive Officer
Helena ChikezieLL.D. (hon.)
Leads operational execution and market positioning across the group, with direct oversight of emerging-market deployment and the veridity.tech build.
Chief Architecture Officer
Christopher Barklem
Holds the group technical framework: cross-border corporate governance, structuring of transaction infrastructure, and the architecture standards each vehicle operates to.
Operating structure
- Barklem&Chi Ltd.
- Parent infrastructure company
- nelum.tech
- Vehicle · in operation
- veridity.tech
- Vehicle · in development
Division of remit
Two mandates, held separately and deliberately.
- Group strategy and execution
- Chief Executive Officer
- Market entry and positioning
- Chief Executive Officer
- Technical framework
- Chief Architecture Officer
- Corporate structuring
- Chief Architecture Officer
- Compliance policy
- Joint, group level
- Capital and partnerships
- Joint, founding office
How the founding office works
Enquiries are reviewed directly
Institutional, partnership and integration enquiries reach the founders rather than a sales function. Technical questions are answered by the people who set the framework.
Vehicles are led, not managed
Each company carries its own operating leadership and accountability; the founding office holds strategy, governance and the standard each vehicle is measured against.
Operating principles
How decisions get made here.
Governance is written before code
The compliance policy and operating model for a vehicle exist before its first release, so the standard is never renegotiated retrospectively under commercial pressure.
One standard across jurisdictions
A transaction is held to the same verification and record requirements wherever it originates. Local practice informs execution, not the standard itself.
Evidence over representation
Where a claim can be verified, the platform verifies it. Counterparty assurance is not a substitute for a record a third party will accept.
Few vehicles, held properly
The group builds slowly and declines more than it accepts. Each vehicle carries the founders' direct attention rather than a portfolio allocation.
Founding office