Richard Powell’s story is an inspiration. Born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, he excelled as a teenager in both academics and athletics. After playing soccer for Jamaica at the U17 and U20 level, and considering an opportunity to play professionally in Europe, Richard ultimately decided to study economics at Harvard University, where he
represented the school in soccer and track & field, and founded his first company while still an undergraduate.

Now, with over two decades of experience in corporate finance, governance, business development, and principal investing in private and public companies, Richard is a seasoned entrepreneur and investor who has co-founded and led multiple successful ventures. Two of these were scaled to billion-dollar enterprises, these were:
Zerochaos, a global HR BPO that grew to 12,000 employees globally and $1.2 billion in revenues at exit, and most recently Project Black at Ariel Alternatives, a $1.4 billion private equity platform that aims to
create the next generation of large, global, diverse suppliers to the Fortune 500.

Richard is currently the Chairman of Sequential Technologies International, a global BPO headquartered in the USA, APC Holdings, a 20-year-old investment firm that partners with institutional investors and business owners to build lasting companies with measurable social impact, and The RMP Group, his family office. He is a YPO member and a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. Perhaps most timely, he is currently putting together an innovative vehicle to invest over $2.0 billion of capital, with the flexibility to deploy in the US and Caribbean region, to address the demand in private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure assets.

Dr. Terri-Karelle Johnson, is a human ethernet – connector of people and dots! TV Presenter, International Event Host, Speaker, Best-selling Author of ‘My Brand Compass.’ Her podcast ‘Redirection with Terri-Karelle’ is the #1 Caribbean podcast in the world and she is also the Founder and Executive Director of the Open Door Jamaica Foundation which caters to children and young adults with disabilities.

Matteo Rizzi is an unconventional entrepreneur with two decades of experience in Financial Services, constantly referred amongst the top executives in the industry. He spent 13 years at SWIFT – where he co-founded Innotribe, the innovation arm of the cooperative, launching the first global startup challenge. Since 2013, he has had a FinTech Investor and/or Venture Partner role with global VCs and CVCs (20+ deals, 5 exits). In 2015, he co-founded FinTechStage (now FTSGroup.eu) – a platform for Investors and Innovators to boost FinTech innovation globally. In 2019, Matteo founded Timepledge.org a global initiative to foster financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. The same year he launched Breaking Banks Europe (as the Executive Producer). In 2023, he was appointed Senior Advisor for Elevandi (MAS). He is the author of “The FinTech Revolution” and “Talents & Rebels” and is fluent in 5 languages.

FinTech and payments c-suite leader, focused on forward looking vertical markets – e.g. disaster, cannabis, insurance, health, etc. CEO of Payments as a Lifeline – a 501c3 coalition and “network for good” of companies – FinTech, CareTech, Insurance, banking, and payments. PaaL Members enable government, corporates & nonprofits – to deliver disaster & aid funds to people fast, secure, with dignity. Her career has focused on “FinTech for Good” – across government and industry: banking, payments, insurance, health – working in range from start-ups to Fortune100s. She also works in AML & anti human trafficking , expert witness, testifies in Congress, 300+speeches.

Senator Blackman is the Minister in the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Investment of Barbados. With over twenty years of experience in international development, he possesses tremendous insight to the myriad of challenges and opportunities faced by countries in the Global South.

Minister Blackman previously served as a Consultant in Youth Development at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, as well as a Partner in St. Lucia-based law firm with a specialization in international trade and data protection law.

He served as Barbados’ Ambassador to the United Nations at Geneva, Vienna and Rome, as well as Ambassador to Switzerland, Austria, Hungary and Serbia. During his tenure, he served in various committees in the WTO, UNCTAD, including Chair of the Trade and Environment Committee, and Trade and Development Committee of the WTO, the President of the G77 and China in Geneva, as well as on the Global Board of the UN International Gender Champions.

He later joined the International Labour Organization (ILO) as Senior Advisor to the Director-General with responsibility in Cabinet for Latin America & The Caribbean, Africa and Arab States; External Relations; Legal Affairs, the ILO’s Tribunal and Corporate Services.

Minister Blackman has both the LLB Law and LLM International Trade Law from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom and is an Associate Member of the London-based Chartered Institute of Arbitrators

AlHuda Centre of Islamic Banking and Economics is a global leader in advancing Islamic banking and finance, With 16 years of dedicated service. AlHuda CIBE has been acknowledged as a distinguished service provider due to our notable services, team of dedicated professionals and one stop solutions of Islamic banking and finance. Our aim is to provide state-of-the-art services of Islamic banking and finance. We are proud to be prominent for our following quality services all over the world.

Advisory & Consultancy

Research & Development

Education & Capacity Building

Shariah Advisory

Publications & Events

Jane Barratt is Chief Advocacy Officer and Head of Global Public Policy at MX. Jane is a personal finance expert and champion of financial strength. In her role, Jane collaborates with financial institutions, regulatory bodies, policymakers and the financial ecosystem to ensure people have better financial outcomes through permissioned and secure data-driven innovation. She is a financial educator through LinkedIn Learning. Prior to MX, Jane was CEO of GoldBean, an education first investment advisory platform; and spent two decades driving growth for Fortune 500 companies.

Remi Born in Queens, New York into a profoundly musical family, Salaam Remi Gibbs’ name itself was inspired by music. His father, Van Gibbs (music industry producer and musician) gave him the first name, Salaam, the Arabic word for “peace” and his middle name, Remi was derived from the second and third tones of the octave scale (Do Re Mi…).

“As a kid I started out with the rhythms, playing drums,” explains Remi, who got his first set from Elvin Jones (the legendary jazz drummer of John Coltrane Quartet fame).

Signed to ASCAP Performing Rights Society at the age of 13, Remi engrossed himself in the business of making music. Salaam Remi’s foundation creating hip-hop remixes and productions for reggae artists Supercat, Ini Kamoze, Shabba Ranks, and Patra in the early 90’s would lead to his production on The Fugees album, The Score, the highest selling hip-hop album of all-time, selling over 20 million copies worldwide. The sounds created on The Score were based around the energy of “Fu-gee-la,” and laid the foundation for The Fugees to find their own creative voices on their solo albums. Those days spent tinkering with demo tracks and remixing songs from the radio, were a precursor for the man who would go on to remix and produce songs for various acts including: The Fugees, NAS, Wyclef Jean, Toni Braxton, Santana, Sade, Sting (feat. Mary J. Blige), Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys, Usher, Miguel, Jazmine Sullivan and Amy Winehouse to name a few – sonic creations that have helped sell millions of records – domestically and internationally. Remi produced ten songs on Winehouse’s debut, Frank, released in 2003. The critically acclaimed single, “Stronger Than Me,” which he co-wrote with Winehouse, would win the coveted Ivor Novello Award for “Contemporary Song Of The Year.” The foundation laid by Remi on her debut album would lead to songwriting and production on her second album, Back To Black, (“Tears Dry On Their Own,” “Addicted,” “Me and Mr. Jones,” “Just Friends,” “Unholy War”) and catapult Winehouse into the spotlight to become one of the top music stories of 2007. To date, Back to Black has since sold more than three million copies worldwide, and become one of the blockbuster releases of the year.

The tracks he created for Oscar-winning actress/singer Jennifer Hudson’s album and film projects such as Sex And The City 1 & 2 allowed Remi to shift gears into different directions for each as all have a distinct demographic and artistic approach. In 2009 Salaam release his first instrumental album “PragueNosis” featuring orchestral instrumentals recorded during a trip to Czechoslovakia, some of its material was used for collaborations issued before and after release. “Shila’s Playground,” used for the Grammy-nominated song “Lions, Tigers & Bears,” by Jazmine Sullivan, “Praguenosis” itself was later repurposed for Nas’ “The Black Bond,” included on Life Is Good, one of several 2012 works that led to Remi’s Grammy nomination in the category of Producer of the Year, Non-Classical. In September 2013, Remi released his first official solo project, the R&B-oriented “One: In the Chamber,” featuring appearances from NeYo, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jordin Sparks, and Akon, which was nominated for the Best Urban Contemporary Album Grammy.

Remi’s most recent project, entitled Black On Purpose, was released in November of 2020. The album features artists such as Busta Rhymes, Nas, Jennifer Hudson, Mumu Fresh, Black Thought, Doug E Fresh, Cee Lo Green, Bilal, Teedra Moses, D-Nice, Mack Wilds, Common, Case, Betty Wright, James Poyser, Stephen Marley, Anthony Hamilton, Syleena Johnson, Super Cat, Spragga Benz, and Chronixx. Moved by heightening racial tensions and the loss many experienced due to COVID, Remi created this project to express what he didn’t want to have to explain, but what he felt the community needed to hear. Remi says, “the purpose of this project was to remind myself and my people that when I do something it’s for my community, ungentrified Black music. This is for us, by us. Black On Purpose.” “I’m always trying to find the sound of the artist, so I prefer to custom-make songs. It preserves the integrity of the artist’s vision and prevents me from sounding predictable,” Remi says of his production methods, “I don’t follow trends. I’m not ‘trendy.’ I hate following trends.” Remi concludes, “I think we have to go back to good music, learn from the people who’ve had longevity, use their foundation, and inject something new into it to move forward. I am inspired simply by looking back while moving forward.” – www.salaamremi.com