Executive Chairman Webit Foundation
Dr. Plamen Russev is the initiator and focal connector of one of the world’s largest impact networks and curator of the global Webit community, reaching out to over 800,000 digerati, policy makers, innovators and media. His success stories include creating the global Webit brand from scratch, supporting founders and brands in establishing and growing a successful marketing strategy, creating meaningful relations with potential partners, customers and media. Plamen supports causes which impact the achievement of the UN’ SDGs.
He is an investor, philanthropist and serial entrepreneur and proven success record in developing business ventures in multicultural and challenging business environments.
Plamen Russev is B.Sc in Marketing and Management, M.Sc in Electronic Education/Mathematics and Physics, and Ph.D in Healthcare Management.
Plamen Russev has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs of his home country – Republic of Bulgaria and a member of European Commission’ BOF.
Dr. Russev’ work and impact have been recognised and awarded by governments, associations and NGOs along with 2 honorary doctorates from Universities in Europe and South America. Plamen Russev is featured in hundreds of international and local media including The Economist, Bloomberg, CNBCe, Forbes, Venture Beat, CNN to name a few.
Dr. Russev is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Webit Foundation and host of Webit Virtual.
He is happily married to the most wonderful girl in the world and father of 2 boys.
CEO for Banking Revolut
Richard Davies is the Chief Executive Officer for Banking at Revolut, having joined in July 2019. He is responsible for Revolut’s banking entities around the world, alongside a number of group functions.
Revolut is a radically better digital bank account that includes a debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments. We are on a mission to build a fair and frictionless platform to use and manage money around the world. Our platform allows users to transfer, exchange, and spend money at great value rates with a multi currency card that is accepted everywhere.
Prior roles include:
- Commercial Banking Director at TSB
- Global Head of Propositions / Digital - SME Banking at HSBC
- Chief Operating Officer, UK Commercial Banking, at HSBC
- First CEO of challenger bank OakNorth
Richard has a MA Economics and M.Phil Development Economics from Trinity Hall Cambridge.
Founder and CEO Channel VAS
Bassim Haidar, founder and CEO of Channel VAS co-founded his first company, Intercomm Ltd. in 1991 at the young age of 20 and GMT, now the leading integrated procurement, finance & logistics provider in West Africa, in 1995.
In 2003, he founded Channel IT to cater and provide supplies and services to the telecom industry in Nigeria. Today the company operates in 19 countries and plays a major role in infrastructure and services in Africa and the Middle East.
In 2011, he founded Channel VAS; now the leading vendor of Mobile Financial and Fintech Services for emerging markets across the globe, with emphasis given in emerging markets.
Mr. Haidar has 30 years’ experience in various sectors of the African market and has become one of the most successful pioneers in his industry.
Channel VAS is currently reaching over 700 million customers in more than 30 countries in 4 continents, lending over $8 million USD daily. Channel VAS offers micro and nano loans (sub US$50), airtime credit and smart handset financing with emphasis on emerging markets, offering financial inclusion to all and allowing users in underserved areas to bank more effectively.
Correspondent & TV Presenter Forbes
Angela Antetomaso is a TV Presenter and Host with two decades of daily on-air experience.
Angela Antetomaso is a TV Presenter and Host with two decades of daily on-air experience.
Angela began her broadcasting career in New York, working first at CNN International and then at Bloomberg Television as a News Anchor.
She later joined CNBC in London: here she organised the launch of CNBC's Italian-speaking channel while also, for years, hosting her own daily talk-show.
Angela now lives between London and New York, working as a Correspondent at Forbes Italy: for their new TV channel, she presents the weekly show “Asset and the City”.
Since 2010, Angela is a member of the Board of the Master's in Management at Cass Business School in London.
CEO for Banking
Revolut
Richard Davies is responsible for Revolut’s banking entities around the world, alongside a number of group functions. Revolut is a radically better digital bank account that includes a debit card, currency exchange, and peer-to-peer payments.
Founder and CEO
Channel VAS
Haidar has 30 years’ experience in various sectors of the African market and has become one of the most successful pioneers in his industry. Channel VAS is currently reaching over 700 million customers in more than 30 countries in 4 continents, lending over $8 million USD daily.
Host
Q&A Moderator
Executive Chairman Webit Foundation
Dr. Plamen Russev is the initiator and focal connector of one of the world’s largest impact networks and curator of the global Webit community, reaching out to over 800,000 digerati, policy makers, innovators and media. His success stories include creating the global Webit brand from scratch, supporting founders and brands in establishing and growing a successful marketing strategy, creating meaningful relations with potential partners, customers and media. Plamen supports causes which impact the achievement of the UN’ SDGs.
He is an investor, philanthropist and serial entrepreneur and proven success record in developing business ventures in multicultural and challenging business environments.
Plamen Russev is B.Sc in Marketing and Management, M.Sc in Electronic Education/Mathematics and Physics, and Ph.D in Healthcare Management.
Plamen Russev has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs of his home country – Republic of Bulgaria and a member of European Commission’ BOF.
Dr. Russev’ work and impact have been recognised and awarded by governments, associations and NGOs along with 2 honorary doctorates from Universities in Europe and South America. Plamen Russev is featured in hundreds of international and local media including The Economist, Bloomberg, CNBCe, Forbes, Venture Beat, CNN to name a few.
Dr. Russev is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Webit Foundation and host of Webit Virtual.
He is happily married to the most wonderful girl in the world and father of 2 boys.
Managing Partner Blockchain Founders Fund
I am passionate about emerging technologies to help change the world. This includes blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, articifial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, education, and FinTech. I’ve spent my last few years investing and working on several blockchain ventures and lead Blockchain Founders Fund which invests in and venture builds top-tier Start-ups and consults companies and governmental organizations on emerging technologies. Prior to that worked in Management Consulting and Assurance with PwC in Canada, The United States, Brazil, and the Caribbean. I love to spend my free time working on social sector improvement and have served on the Board of Directors of the University of Toronto and Advantage Mississauga. I previously held roles with PayPal, Microsoft, Bloomberg, and the Royal Canadian Air Force.
I enjoy spending time on millennial development and authored 3 books including an international award-winning book entitled 'Your Guide to Succeed in University' as part of the 'Succeed Series', where each book is available free of charge. I also perform workshops and speaking engagements for parents, students, and executives. Most recently we published 'Your Guide to Get Into Medical School' and 'Your Guide to Succeed After Graduation'.
I am an INSEAD MBA December 2016 graduate (Singapore and France) and a Schwarzman Scholar from Tsinghua University. I hold a Bachelor of Commerce with Distinction from the University of Toronto. I also hold the Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Accountant, Certified Management Accountant, and Chartered Investment Manager designations.
COO & Managing Director Capital Innovators
Brian has helped raise tens of millions of dollars for investment funds and assisted portfolio companies in raising over $375 MM; provided venture investment and management to more than 130 companies in technology, consumer products, and energy tech verticals, which have scaled to create over 2,000 jobs. He launched new business lines including fractional c-suite help for startups, corporate innovation partnerships, corporate accelerators, university partnerships, early-education partnerships and more. Brian also co-created the world’s first energy tech accelerator partnering a Fortune 500 energy utility, a statewide university system, and a top-ranked accelerator.
During his time in law school at Washington University in St. Louis in 2012, he became an early adopter, avid investor and advocate of blockchain and digital assets. Brian’s expertise and knowledge in this space, along with his background in technology venture investing and portfolio management, has landed him in over 55 features in publications such as Forbes, Inc., TechCrunch, and Entrepreneur. He has consulted for domestic and international startups, mid-market companies, corporations, universities and country governments around emerging technologies and business strategy. Brian has authored four books covering topics including crypto assets, distributed ledger systems, and human consciousness.
Brian leverages his diverse background, global connections, experience and unique point of view to help both businesses and individuals thrive.
General Partner Conexo Ventures
Isaac de la Peña is General Partner at Conexo Ventures, the leading fund in scaleups of Southern Europe (Spain and Portugal) towards Latin America and the United States. Before that, he was a partner at Inveready First Capital, the successful startup investment fund based in Barcelona. He is a board member, angel investor and advisor to several technology companies at Fintech, Insurtech and Legaltech.
Isaac holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was a Sloan Fellow and a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab. He has extensive hands-on experience in the fields of predictive analytics, machine learning, big data, and mobile platforms.
Investment Partner and Advisor Redsand Ventures
Following a highly inspiring and fulfilling 5 year-journey setting-up and growing both Startupbootcamp InsurTech-London and Hartford-CT’s InsurTech Hub Accelerator, both leading InsurTech initiatives in Europe and East Coast of the USA and directly working with over 30 leading insurers and investors, I am thrilled to focus my attention and effort now on new opportunities within the venture validation, protection gap, sustainability and investment spaces still in insurance.
I look forward to continuing to support leading insurers, financial services institutions and investors to optimise their portfolio of activities and identify fast the best fit partnership, investment or acquisition opportunities while working with talented young ventures across the FinTech, InsurTech, WealthTech, HealthTech spaces.
Quppy is a digital payment solution consolidating your bank cards and accounts. Quppy has gone further than Google Pay and Apple Pay to develop an AI solution that makes the right decision of choosing a payment card at the moment.
Nemuru is a point-of-sale platform (B2B2C) that is disrupting how people pay for their services and products in a simple, affordable and convenient way, with special focus on home improvement, healthcare and education sectors. Nemuru is the combination of a technology company and a credit intermediator. Their platform is built for merchants and lenders, so they can offer real-time financing to the consumers.
MoneyOnClick is India's first social fintech lender. They have created a platform of thousands of financially literate part-timers and micro-entrepreneurs in 500+ small towns and cities of India and through them they provide affordable large ticket unsecured loans to 100 Million+ credit underserved middle income families in small cities. The customers take these loans for non purchase use cases such as medical treatment and education.
Executive Chairman Webit Foundation
Dr. Plamen Russev is the initiator and focal connector of one of the world’s largest impact networks and curator of the global Webit community, reaching out to over 800,000 digerati, policy makers, innovators and media. His success stories include creating the global Webit brand from scratch, supporting founders and brands in establishing and growing a successful marketing strategy, creating meaningful relations with potential partners, customers and media. Plamen supports causes which impact the achievement of the UN’ SDGs.
He is an investor, philanthropist and serial entrepreneur and proven success record in developing business ventures in multicultural and challenging business environments.
Plamen Russev is B.Sc in Marketing and Management, M.Sc in Electronic Education/Mathematics and Physics, and Ph.D in Healthcare Management.
Plamen Russev has been appointed Goodwill Ambassador for Digital Affairs of his home country – Republic of Bulgaria and a member of European Commission’ BOF.
Dr. Russev’ work and impact have been recognised and awarded by governments, associations and NGOs along with 2 honorary doctorates from Universities in Europe and South America. Plamen Russev is featured in hundreds of international and local media including The Economist, Bloomberg, CNBCe, Forbes, Venture Beat, CNN to name a few.
Dr. Russev is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Webit Foundation and host of Webit Virtual.
He is happily married to the most wonderful girl in the world and father of 2 boys.
Financial Journalist and Correspondent Il Sole 24 Ore
Simone Filippetti has been a financial journalist for 20 years. He has covered the SubPrime Crisi and Lehman Collapse in New York for the italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore. He is now the Uk correspondent for the same paper. He published two books: 'Serenissimi Affari' (2014), profiles of veneto region enterprises, and 'I Signori del Lusso' (2019), an italian banker bio. He is currently featured on the italian tv network Mediaset as an op/ed on economic issues. He is also a writer and screen player.
Correspondent & TV Presenter Forbes
Angela Antetomaso is a TV Presenter and Host with two decades of daily on-air experience.
Angela Antetomaso is a TV Presenter and Host with two decades of daily on-air experience.
Angela began her broadcasting career in New York, working first at CNN International and then at Bloomberg Television as a News Anchor.
She later joined CNBC in London: here she organised the launch of CNBC's Italian-speaking channel while also, for years, hosting her own daily talk-show.
Angela now lives between London and New York, working as a Correspondent at Forbes Italy: for their new TV channel, she presents the weekly show “Asset and the City”.
Since 2010, Angela is a member of the Board of the Master's in Management at Cass Business School in London.
Managing Editor Cointelegraph
Kristina Lucrezia Cornèr currently works as the Managing Editor of Cointelegraph, building an editorial strategy and ensuring content-quality for a leading media outlet dedicated to cryptocurrencies, blockchain and fintech.
With an M.A. in political science and classical philology, she has been working in communication and journalism for over 10 years, covering energy, urban, green, information, financial technologies and other innovations aimed at a sustainable future.
A speaker at international events, she is a passionate advocate of environmental consciousness and women's rights.
Managing Editor Mashable Middle East
Ankush Chibber is Managing Editor Mashable Middle East. He is a multi-skilled editor and digital media content strategist with 14 years of cross-platform experience, specializing in editorial strategy, brand building, audience growth, and most importantly, impactful storytelling. Ankush edits the Middle East edition of Mashable, covering technology, digital culture and business in the region since the brand’s inception in 2019.
Special Panelists
Host
