Celo Foundation Launches Regional Ambassador Program Across 3 Continents

Caroline Bishop Mar 09, 2026 16:44

Celo taps seven community leaders in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia to drive grassroots adoption as CELO trades near $0.07.

The Celo Foundation has appointed seven Regional Ambassadors to lead grassroots adoption efforts across Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia—regions where the layer-1 blockchain sees its strongest real-world usage.

The announcement comes as CELO trades at $0.073, down roughly 3% over the past 24 hours, with market cap hovering around $44 million.

Who Made the Cut

The inaugural cohort includes some notable names in emerging market crypto circles. Luis Buenaventura II, currently President of the Blockchain Council of the Philippines and former crypto lead at GCash, brings institutional credibility to the Southeast Asian push. His NFT work has sold at Christie's and Sotheby's.

In East Africa, Mukunde Brisa—who previously led the Celo Africa DAO—will focus on MiniPay adoption and university education programs. Ghana's Ernest Akakpo has already grown the local developer community to over 380 active members through hands-on workshops.

Latin American representation includes Arturo Grande (Argentina), an ETHGlobal Buenos Aires 2025 track winner; Benjamin Bauer (Brazil), a stablecoin specialist and former CeLatam ambassador; and Juan Giraldo (Colombia), who helped build TuCop Wallet and Self Protocol.

Rounding out the group, Susanne Zarpellon will lead Proof of Ship, Celo's builder activation program, after six years contributing to projects like ImpactMarket.

Strategic Timing

The ambassador rollout aligns with broader Celo initiatives. In late 2025, the foundation extended its strategic partnership with Opera browser, targeting financial inclusion for one billion people by 2030. More recently, in January 2026, Celo proposed token economic model reforms—though specific details remain under discussion.

The ambassadors are already active, supporting Celo's "Build Agents for the Real World" hackathon and organizing local events including workshops with Crecimiento and guest lectures at Brazil's UNIFACS university.

The Play Here

Ambassador programs rarely move prices directly. But for a chain betting heavily on emerging market adoption—where MiniPay and stablecoin use cases actually matter to unbanked populations—having credible local advocates could accelerate the network effects Celo needs to compete.

Whether that translates to meaningful on-chain activity growth remains the question worth tracking over the coming quarters.

• celo
• celo
• crypto adoption
• emerging markets
• blockchain ambassadors