Viola Llewellyn

Viola Llewellyn is the President and co-founder of award winning "TradeTech" company, Ovamba Solutions, where she oversees innovation, strategy, and business development. Ms. Llewellyn is globally recognized as an expert on African entrepreneurship, banking, fintech, diversity and digital transformation for emerging markets. She is one of the ‘Visible Figures’ referenced in Vanity Fair magazine’s April 2018 piece on Black, female Tech Founders. She was also the first African, female Tech Founder to speak at both “Slush”, Helsinki and “Slush, Tokyo”, and in late 2018, her TED Talk was part of the “Reboot” Series with Boston Consulting Group. Ms. Llewellyn has been an Ambassador to the World Economic Forum as a Global Technology Pioneer and has spoken at the prestigious “Davos Summit '' conference. Ms. Llewellyn serves on the board of a number of corporations and is respected for her support and promotion of fellow women in leadership and STEM disciplines.

Viola Llewellyn’s family is from Cameroon. She was born, raised, and educated in the U.K.and lives between the African Continent and the USA.

Professional affiliations

Ovamba Solutions

Central Bank of the Future

Central banks play important roles in monetary policy, financial sector supervision, and payment systems. Central bank policies can play critical roles in whether the financial system advances financial inclusion. As technology continues to change the financial sector, however, there may be new ways in which these institutions undertake this work using financial technology ("fintech"). This also raises the question of whether central banks are well positioned to promote a more inclusive economy–or whether the role of the central bank should be revisited. Simultaneously, the 2018 World Inequality Report finds that global income and wealth inequality is growing. In partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, this project explores the mandate and design of central banks to consider whether they might play an even stronger role in promoting financial inclusion, financial health, and a more inclusive economy. More broadly, it creates a vision for what the "central bank of the future" might look like and focuses in particular on how emerging technology could support central banks in their efforts to promote financial inclusion, growth, and development.

Viola Llewellyn

Professional affiliations

News

Central Bank of the Future project concludes with insights on technology, calls for further research

Founders & Entrepreneurs Discuss Fintech In The African Context

2020 Central Bank of the Future Conference Papers

What if the New Normal Included Using Payment Data to Support Under-Documented Firms?

Videos

Fintech in the Africa Context panel

CBOTF 2020 Firesidee Keynote (Day 2) with Mu Changchun and Michael S. Barr

CBOTF 2020 Panel 3: Traditional and Evolving Functions of the Financial System: Payments as a Utility (Day 2) with Michael S. Barr, Andrea Dunlop, Tilman Ehrbeck, and Must Jimoh

CBOTF 2020 Panel 1: Parsing the Pandemic: How Did Central Banks Respond to COVID-19 Globally? (Day 1) with Sir Paul Tucker, Seth Carpenter, Fernanda Nechio, and Michael Wiegand

CBOTF 2020 Day 1 Opening Keynote with Dr. Claire A. Nelson

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