Ananas has recently confirmed Blake Goud as an advisor for their board. Goud is a fountain of knowledge, especially in responsible finance practices. Goud has been an active help in advising Ananas on the area of token ethics.

As the CEO of the RFI Foundation, Goud works to identify a neutral, nonpartisan and universal value proposition for finance by highlighting the shared standards around principles that govern the sector. Before establishing the RFI Foundation, Goud was the Chief Research Officer for ME Global Advisors where he focused on the MENA financial sector development and the growth of the Islamic economy. He was responsible for leading ME Global Advisors’ research efforts as well as advising on the content of the events. His primary areas of interest are global Islamic banking, capital markets and opportunities to increase financial inclusion in Islamic finance through crowdfunding and microfinance.

Goud has nearly a decade of experience researching Islamic finance and working in the financial sector in a compliance and investment officer role for a US-based investment advisor and broker-dealer. He was the Community Leader for the Thomson Reuters Islamic Finance Gateway from 2012 to 2015. At Thomson Reuters, he conducted research and analysis on the Islamic finance and Islamic economy sectors, set discussion points for large-scale events and one-on-one sessions with leaders of the Islamic finance industry. He drafted white papers following events including the IILM roundtables in London, UK and Washington, DC and was a principal author of the GIES 2013 Review following the Global Islamic Economy Summit organised in collaboration with the Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry and the Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre.

Goud’s published research includes papers on Islamic microfinance, renewable energy microfinance and public finance using the esham structure to develop a flexible alternative for tax increment finance. He received his B.A. in Economics from Reed College in 2003.

As ethics advisor to Ananas, he believes in the ability of human interaction to overcome preconceptions caused by current information sources. When asked about Ananas, Goud gave the following answers.

What do you think Ananas greatest impact will be?

“The biggest impact of Ananas will be to encourage people to communicate with one another and learn about what we all share in common and the differences that we have. The biggest problem with our current environment is that the easiest sources of information about many things are most likely to reinforce and magnify our preconceptions. Many times, it is impossible to overcome these preconceptions with facts without context, but much more readily possible by allowing the sharing of human experiences which is harder to skew with fake news than facts divorced from people.”

What do you think Ananas’ best quality is compared to other startups and crypto projects?

“I am impressed with the detailed planning from Ananas to build an institutional structure, including being a registered charity in the UK, with a plan for its activities that are facilitated by the token sale. One of the problems I have seen with token sales is that they do one and then say “what next?”. Ananas has a long-term strategy that would be useful as a stand-alone proposition but enhanced by the use of an token to bring communities together to share their beliefs with others to break down walls between communities who have more that brings them together than divides them.”

What is your favourite thing about Ananas, on a personal level?

“I really like the idea that technology can be used with the explicit intent to connect people for society’s benefit instead of solely for increasing profits.”