In this episode of The Purposeful Strategist, Belden Menkus speaks with Colin Walsh, founder and Board Chair of Civitas ID, about the foundational struggle for the world's millions of displaced people: the ability to prove their identity across borders, and the infrastructure needed to enable it.

Colin's career in financial services, including as CEO of Varo Bank, taught him that some of the most difficult problems of exclusion are upstream of banking access, and lie in proving identity. He is tackling this problem with Civitas through building open-source digital public infrastructure for the roughly 123 million people currently living in a state of forced displacement. In their conversation, they discuss:

Why identity is a foundational barrier for displaced people trying to access work, banking, healthcare, and education, and how documentation failures trap people in limbo.

The structure of Civitas (a US nonprofit) and Etymos (a public benefit corporation): how the two organizations work together to serve both the public good and the private sector participants, banks, lenders, employers, whose engagement is essential to facilitating inclusion.

Why technology is not the only factor: how Colin and his team stress-test ideas directly with displaced communities, why policy reform and advocacy matter as much as technology, and what genuine listening, as opposed to validation-seeking, looks like in practice.

Kenya and Colombia as pilot markets, and what the contrast between the two markets reveals about pace, partnership, and the conditions that enable systemic change.

Civitas ID: https://www.civitasid.org/

Etymos: https://www.etymosid.com/

Menkus & Associates: https://www.menkus.com/

Supported by Norman Broadbent: https://www.normanbroadbent.com/

Belden Menkus is the Managing Director of Menkus & Associates, a senior strategic advisory practice that provides strategic clarity for businesses with a public remit, where scrutiny is high, governance is complex, and the answers aren't obvious. His McKinsey training combined with more than 30 years working at Board and ExCo level gives him both the analytical rigour and the relational experience that complex, high-stakes leadership situations demand.

Belden hosts The Purposeful Strategist, a weekly podcast. It explores how senior leaders bring purpose to life through strategy and reflects the same questions that drive the consulting work.