Benyamin Ahmed
It might seem like the NFT and web3 space is suffering from conference overload. There’s a new event happening daily. Ultimately this is good for the space as it helps sustain community and IRL events foster friendship, although it may lead to conference fatigue.
Last week I had the opportunity to attend an event that is unique in the NFT space. OxBAT organised by the Department of Anthropology and Computer Science at the University of Oxford describes itself as:
The first multi-disciplinary conference on the aesthetic, social, and anthropological perspectives on blockchain art in Oxford, it will bring together social scientists, art historians, artists, curators, blockchain developers, and others in an open forum.
Benyamin Ahmed
This week I had the pleasure of attending and speaking at Zebu Live in London’s Kensington district.
Zebu Live is a 2-day web3 conference. The team has previous experience in this sector having first launched DeFi Live back in November 2021. The event sold-out quickly and they had to release a bunch of further tickets. The demand was high, over 1000 members in their highly active Telegram group.
Opportunities in web3, blockchain and fintech with Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands
Following is an edited transcript of Matt Cheung and NFT prodigy Benyamin Ahmed speaking to Robby Yung, CEO of Animoca Brands.
You can watch the interview on Youtube or listen to it on Spotify or Apple.
Matthew Cheung
Benyamin Ahmed
Happiness boosts productivity by 12%.
Read this to become a happier person:
Smile.
Benyamin Ahmed
We might have just had the hottest week in UK history but that did not keep the London NFT crowd indoors.
After attending Lisbon and NYC I was keen to participate in an event in my home town, London.
I was fortunate to speak at not one but three London based events in the same week. On Tuesday 19th July, exactly one year after the launch of Weird Whales, I spoke to a full-house at web3 London in the stunning Microsoft Reactor building.
NFT.NYC 2022 Diary by Benyamin Ahmed, Work in Fintech Chief Evangelist
Day 1: Sunday 19th June, 2022
The conference doesn't officially start until Tuesday but we decided to come early in order to explore New York. My first time in NYC and the US. When I launched Weird Whales a year ago, I had no idea that my life would take such a turn.
Over the last 18 months, we have been blown away by the love and support that Work in Fintech has received. From leaders in fintech and web3 helping with their time and resource through to the superstar students and graduates we’ve met. From 15-year-old Loveday Mwatsuku from my old high school who now wants to work in UI/UX for Goldman Sachs, to Zachary Scott who has had his eyes opened to fintech and web3 through to Jagraj Singh, a budding physicist and all round rockstar and all the other team member of Work in Fintech. We’re lucky to have met them all.
The inaugural Work in Fintech Summer Cohort of 2021 was a raging success – here’s some of the amazing people that they met. One year later I’ve seen the same group, who were aged 14 through to 21, go on to create big bold visions. All of them now see themselves forging a career or company in fintech, web3 and greentech.
We believe it's our responsibility to help guide and inspire young people and to push them beyond their limits and achieve greatness. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to see this bright young group of individuals not only evolve as people but also break down the invisible handcuffs that being from a small town and lower socio-economic background can sometimes bring. Through Work in Fintech we’ve opened their eyes up to new opportunities, mentors have shared skills and mindset that can help set them apart and we’ve taught them about the different job roles in fintech and web3 companies as well as providing work experience and insight days.
Along this journey I've also been super lucky to meet an amazing tribe of like-minded individuals, many of which we have had on as podcast guests or mentors in our work experience programmes. Through the ‘Interviews with Leaders in Fintech’ podcast series I've been blessed to meet Ying Cao, former head of digital products at Barclays investment bank, who joined Work in Fintech as co-founder and Benyamin Ahmed, a 13-year-old crypto prodigy, who in the last year has sold $20 million worth of NFTs and also now holds the title of youngest guest lecturer at Oxford University.
Work in Fintech are delighted to partner with the University of East London and the Royal Docks School of Business & Law with the new Centre of FinTech. The Centre of FinTech aims to build a pipeline of talent that facilitates the global digital economy.
Work in Fintech co-founder Matthew Cheung was invited to sit on the strategic advisory board of the new Centre of FinTech advising on course design and student career development, becoming an entrepreneur-in-residence and raising the profile of the university.
The Centre aims to increase the exposure of students to the world of FinTech, and in so doing, prepare them for the world of work and help them discover the exciting roles available.
Professor Mohammad Ali, Dean of the Royal Docks School of Business & Law stated, “We feel privileged to have alliances with many prominent FinTech industry partners, and together we hope to drive innovation and growth in the sector.”
Felicia Meyerowitz Singh is a serial entrepreneur passionate about fintech, wealthtech, innovation and digital change. Her achievements include:
- Founder and CEO of Akoni Hub, a UK wealthtech platform, where she recently exited
- Co-founder of Hive Founders, a global network of female entrepreneurs, supporting founders at any stage
- Managing Director of strategic relationships at leading wealthtech firm FNZ
- Fintech mentor for the UK Department of International Trade
- MBA from London Business School
She talks about:
- How entrepreneurs need grit, determination and perseverance
- How to use talent, energy and experience to build high growth companies
- Having a bias for action by spotting gaps in the market and solving for them
HEC MBA Blockchain Club partners with Work in Fintech to connect students with fintech and web3 companies
HEC MBA Blockchain Club has partnered with Work in Fintech to support HEC students who are looking to build careers and companies in fintech and web3.
The Blockchain Club is a new society based at HEC Paris, Europe’s leading business school which recently topped the Financial Times executive education rankings, and was formed to explore the rapidly growing opportunities that blockchain enables.
The partnership with Work in Fintech formalises a relationship where Work in Fintech provides insights, career opportunities and a network of companies that are hiring to HEC students. While the Blockchain Club acts as an on-ramp for all HEC students excited about this fast-growing industry to connect with industry.
In the wake of what can only be described as a global NFT craze, I find myself wondering what more there is to the future of NFTs other than digital art…
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and more specifically their smart contracts may prove to have a much deeper and more transformative impact than most casual observers would expect. There is a day on the horizon where NFTs will form the basis of our identities and reflect the characteristics of our individual personalities.
Looking beyond “material” possessions (and not material in the sense of tangible items as we all know that by definition NFTs are not quite this) but material in the sense of valuable digital art of which we have seen many amazing examples. 2021 was the year that NFTs became mainstream, but the more we learn the more we realise there is still a long way to go in the development of this technology with many real-world use cases that will impact our everyday life, on the surface and within.
After starting off as a UBS graduate and Goldman Sachs developer, Lewis Tuff was one of the first employees at fintech start-up Revolut. During his time there, Lewis pioneered the cryptocurrency feature in the online banking app and helped scale the team to 50+ members. Lewis now runs engineering at Blockchain.com, a highly successful cryptocurrency wallet with a customer base of 80m+ and counting and one of the largest fintech companies in Europe. Work in Fintech recently caught up with Lewis to find out his thoughts on where cryptocurrency and blockchain is headed in the future, as well as graduate/career advice.
Accessibility
“It's a hot topic, it's in the media, a lot of people are talking about it. I think that's great to kind of attract more talented individuals, from all backgrounds to kind of look at what are the opportunities in the space, and the space is growing exponentially, month on month, let alone year on year.”
After having spoken to Lewis about his experiences at UBS, Goldman Sachs, and Revolut, Lewis explained the best way for students and new graduates to get involved in crypto and blockchain. The rise of social media platforms such as Reddit, Slack, Discord, and Clubhouse offer a lot more opportunities and way for young people to get their careers started than there used to be even 10 years ago. Since most crypto and blockchain projects and open-source, you can look up the repos on GitHub, check out the inner workings of them, and even fix some of the small bugs that have been raised by the community. Blockchain.com have hired engineers this way he mentioned.
First published in October 2021
Just over a year ago, I started the Work in Fintech mentoring project. Why? I wanted to give back and provide the opportunity and network to young people that I didn’t have when I started out my career.