The Team

Our Philosophy

Team GRIP consists of diverse professionals from across the continents who have come together as one, to build and redefine the provision of financial services through effective use of technology.

We embrace and cherish diversity across our thought processes and in our quest to further our raison d’être.

Our CEO

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Gowri is the Chief Executive Officer of GRIP (DIFC) Ltd., Managing Director of GRIP Horizon Sàrl and Founding Shareholder of GRIP Investments.

Gowri’s career within Investment Banking and Investment Management began as a Bond Trader and spans over 20 years. Prior to founding GRIP, Gowri established and led the Asset Management Division (AMD) of a MENA banking group, managed assets of Oman National Investment Corporation (ONIC), handled assets of Pension Funds, Mutual Funds and High-networth investor portfolios at the Financial Corporation (FinCorp) and proprietary portfolios and group pension funds at HNB Securities.

His cross-asset investment management track-record encompasses managing assets across global and regional (GCC), listed equities, debt securities, commodity ETFs, managing direct private equity investments into financial services and industrial sectors, within the GCC and real estate investments across Western Europe and the GCC region.

Furthermore Gowri has expertise and experience across launching funds, structuring wealth management products, executing acquisitions, handling initial public offerings (IPOs), debt issuances and raising investment capital in excess of USD 1.5 billion across asset-classes and risk-thresholds.

Gowri is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants – U.K. (FCMA), Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment – U.K. (MCSI), Certified Practising Accountant (CPA Aust.), Chartered Global Management Accountant – (CGMA) and UAE Chartered Accountant (UAECA). He has a First-Class Honours Degree in Applied Accounting (BSc. Hons.) and holds an International Certificate in Wealth & Investment Management (ICWIM).

Board of Directors

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Tony is the Chairman of GRIP (DIFC) Ltd. and GRIP Horizon Sàrl.

Tony has over 35 years of experience within the finance industry having held leadership roles in electronic trading across the global markets, including design and development of trading platform software, exchange protocols and infrastructure. He has worked with major international exchanges, broker-dealers and vendors in the space and has held senior roles in JP Morgan, Swiss Bank/O’Connor and UBS, and has also managed all aspects of risk, compliance and trading operations across the US, Europe, Australia, and Japan.

He is a blockchain and cryptocurrency enthusiast, trader, advisor and investor. He is committed to supporting blockchain technology to make the markets for capital, goods, and services more efficient for consumers and producers through the development of the next generation of digital markets.

Tony’s other roles include;

Founding member and Director at the Global Digital Asset and CryptoCurrency Association (https://global-dca.org/), a global self-regulatory association for the digital asset & cryptocurrency industry,
Partner at Token Capital Management, an Australian cryptocurrency hedge fund,
Private Consultant at a data aggregation and analysis company that focuses on providing forensic analysis of the global crypto markets to its trading clients, crypto exchanges and the US regulators,
and is involved with Chicago FinTank, Chicago Blockchain Project, and the Digital Assets Working Group.

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Nic is the Chief Technology Officer and Director of GRIP (DIFC) Ltd. and Co-Founder of GRIP Investments.

A multilingual software project manager and developer, with 20 years diversified experience in the creation, delivery, deployment, marketing and support of technology solutions and services.

Nic Spent 5 years at Nielsen Online, focusing on Data Mining and audience analytics for Southern Europe.

A further 10 years experience as a consultant service provider on governance and management of technology for businesses from SME to enterprise scales in the context of E-commerce and delivery of web products to mass markets across three continents with primary focus across the travel, tourism and retail shopping sectors, as well as in the NGO sector.

As Co-founder of GRIP, and CTO, Nic was responsible for the creation and development of GRIP’s dual link-blockchain system and subsequently has been in charge of platform integrations and deployment across the entire GRIP ecosystem: from execution trading platforms to issuance of structured notes and Banking solutions.

Nic holds a BSc Hons. in Business Information Systems, an European Business Studies HND and is W3C affiliated as well as being a Penta-Linguist.

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Harshana is an Independent Director of GRIP (DIFC) Ltd. with 21 years of experience garnered across corporate and investment banking within leading international banks across Switzerland, the GCC region and Sri Lanka.

He currently serves as the Chief Business Officer at Acuity Partners, an investment firm offering a suite of products and services across Fixed Income Securities, Stock Brokering, Corporate Finance, Margin Trading, Asset Management, Fund Management and Venture Capital.

Harshana’s previous roles included:

Director of InvestmentBanking at Abu Dhabi Securities (ADSS) Group
Vice President at Credit Suisse AG (Zurich, Switzerland)
Country Head – UAE for Bank ABC (formerly known as Arab Banking Corporation)
and roles within BNP Paribas S.A., Emirates NBD, Nations Trust Bank and Sampath Bank

Harshana’s academic and professional credentials include a MBA (with Merit) from the University of Leicester, Executive Management Program in International Management conducted by Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA) and National University of Singapore Business School, Fellow Member of the Chartered Management Institute (UK)

Certificate in Marketing of Financial Services, Banking & Finance from Institute of Bankers Sri Lanka and Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK) respectively and certification from Harvard Business School in FinTech, Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies.

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Martin is an Independent Director of GRIP Horizon Sàrl.

Martin is the Founder of Neo Trust, a Luxembourg based Fiduciary services provider focused Funds, Private Equity, Real Estate, institutional clients, and high-net-worth individuals both across Luxenbourg and Europe.

As a veteran Trust, Fund and Corporate Services professional, Martin’s experience and expertise has been honed over 15 years working for international Companies such as the APEX Group, Ogier Group and Capita Asset Services.

Academic and professional accolades include; Member of the Luxembourg chartered accountant Order (“OEC – Ordres des Experts-Comptables”) and Bachelor’s degree in Accountancy & Tax from the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).

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Dineli Gowribalan is currently General Counsel and Company Secretary of GRIP (DIFC) Ltd, Dubai. She is also a director of Zetoya CSP FZCO, Access Capital SPC (Cayman Islands) and Pronghorn Global Limited (a collective investment vehicle registered with and regulated by the British Virgin Islands Financial Services Commission).

She previously headed the international legal division of the Sobha Group, UAE. Prior to that she worked as Senior Associate in the corporate commercial division of a leading Omani law firm – SASLO (Said Al Shahry & Partners). She has also worked with KPMG Sri Lanka providing tax advisory services.

Her work experience spans more than 16 years PQE in the following legal practice areas: corporate, commercial, investment funds, banking and finance, acquisitions and business reorganisations, real estate, construction contracts, joint ventures, employment, agency, intellectual property, technology, media, taxation and dispute resolution. She has also conducted legal due diligence and established businesses in new geographies.

Dineli is a dual qualified lawyer admitted to practice in England & Wales and Attorney-at-Law of the Supreme Court of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in 2005. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (General) Degree in International Relations, Sociology and English from the University of Colombo. She has an Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting from the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, UK. She has completed a Loan Documentation course by Euromoney Learning. She has also recently completed a Luxembourg Anti-Money Laundering Training course in accordance with CSSF requirements.