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Meet the Judges

Meet the Judges

Judges

DOMINIC OWUSU

HEAD, CURRENCY MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, BANK OF GHANA

Dominic is an Assistant Director and Head of Currency Management Department at the Bank of Ghana. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree In Electrical/Electronic Engineering, a Masters Degree in Robotics Engineering from Vandersbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA, a professional certificate course in Microsoft Certified System Engineering (MCSE) and an

MSc in Business Administration (Finance Option) from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). He is currently pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Finance at GIMPA.

Dominic worked as an Embedded Systems Engineer at Dell Corporation, Nashville. He operationally spearheaded the Bank’s transit from manual currency examination to the current automated currency processing systems. He has led and supported a complete paradigm shift in currency operations in the Bank from the early 2000s.

Dominic is a member of the International Association of Currency Affairs (IACA).

He holds the position as Council Member of the Pentecost University, Ghana by playing a supervisory and fiduciary role in ensuring the effective and smooth operation of the university as an excellent academic institution.

ASHWIN RAVICHANDRAN

PORTFOLIO MANAGER, MEST AFRICA

Ashwin initially joined MEST in 2015 as a Technology Teaching Fellow and has held various roles, including Incubator Manager, Director of Portfolio Support, and Country Director of Ghana. With a background in Computer Science and Engineering, he gained prior experience in Honeywell’s innovation team and startup ventures in India.

Ashwin played a crucial role in the growth of successful MEST portfolio companies, such as Complete Farmer, Asoriba, Leti Arts, and Kudobuzz. Recognized for his mentorship and contributions, in 2019, he eventually became the Managing Director of MEST Africa. In 2022, Ashwin transitioned to the role of Portfolio Advisor, dedicating time to address community and fintech challenges in Africa through his startup called Spark.

CONRAD KRAFT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DIGITAL EURO ASSOCIATION

Conrad is an Executive Director at the Digital Euro Association where he oversees research, strategy, and operations. He holds an MSc in Digital Currencies and Blockchain from the University of Nicosia and has undertaken research in the areas of DLT, CBDCs and the use of exponential technologies in the public sector. He is also an evaluator for the MIT Sloan Blockchain Technologies course and distinguished author of the CBDC Chronicles newsletter.

The Digital Euro Association (DEA) is a think tank specializing in CBDCs, stablecoins, crypto assets, and other forms of digital money. We focus on the private and the public digital euro. The DEA is the independent voice of citizens regarding digital money-related topics.

MATT GRASSER

CO-HEAD AND TECH LEAD, CAMBRIDGE SUPTECH LAB

Matt is the Co-Founder and Co-Head of the Cambridge SupTech Lab, a multimillion, multiyear initiative to craft the digital future of financial supervision, housed at the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School.

He is a seasoned leader in expanding the frontier of the digital technology space, with over 15 years of broad-ranging, global experience to draw from. His driving passion throughout has been maximizing impact through effectively applied technologies, with an emphasis on meeting the needs of otherwise excluded or vulnerable people. This pursuit has led him into roles as a pioneering fintech entrepreneur, startup acceleration fund lead, hackathon & techsprint organizer, innovation gallery curator, academic lecturer, and strategic advisor for myriad financial innovation and digital transformation initiatives. 

Matt’s specialization is in the collaborative design, deployment, and integration of digital technologies. Within the bounds of financial services and supervision, he often serves as a translator in cutting through the intimidating jargon and hype that can plague cutting-edge tech, and instead guides an earnest exploration of the real value of these tools through practical demonstration cases. 

Among the programs that Matt has collaboratively led in the past are the RegTech for Regulators Accelerator (R2A), the Catalyst Fund Startup Accelerator, the GSMA’s Mobile Money Profitability 2.0 model, and the Target Product Profile framework for development of inclusive digital payments products.

Matt holds a degree in Aerospace Engineering, and formal certifications in Data Science, Social Entrepreneurship, Machine Learning, and Humanitarian Innovation.

EUGENE GOH

DEPUTY DIRECTOR | LEAD – GLOBAL PLATFORM | FINTECH & INNOVATION GROUP MONETARY AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE

Eugene is a Deputy Director in the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and leads Global Platform development, within the FinTech & Innovation Group.  This encompasses domestic and international initiatives on financial digital infrastructures, FinTech and investment collaborations, cross-border financial trust and financial empowerment for businesses and MSMEs.  Eugene’s prior work covered payments policy and strategy, data analytics, legislations and formulating and achieving MAS’ first patent in regard to globally interoperable ecosystems.