We are creating a blockchain in and for rural Africa. For that we provide with our partners or ourselves affordable electricity and internet access. With the electricity we introduce a loyalty program, that uses a wallet and a token as mean of distribution and transaction. This creates what we call the energy standard - a token worth exactly a fixed amount of electricity.
Economic Development
PROOF OF CONCEPT: Next stage would pilots to prove the acceptance of a token as a mean of exchange induced through a loyalty program.
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Financial inclusion, sustainable energy, economic self-determination and freedom
The freedom to choose and control your own local economy cannot be quantified. ;-)
Banks do not cater hundreds of millions on the continent Africa alone. Mobile money is great, but it is owned by big European telco corporations. We want to create a transaction layer owned by the people themselves or at least by their own chosen delegates.
We do not "use" the blockchain - we build one. If we want to create decentralized systems, we have to start decentralized, empowering the users, not the developers and nerds. If we were to use other existing systems, these would already be "owned" by US, European and Asian wales...so why bother at all?
Sebnem Rusitschka: Computer scientist, energy expert; chair of the energy working group at German Blockchain association Torsten Schreiber: Serial entrepreneur & co-founder of Bettervest, GreenTec Capital and Africa GreenTec AG; Samater Liban: Digital manager & communications director (last Samsung cooperation)
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We have bootstrapped 2018 with our private funds and are now looking towards first funding rounds. We have Africa GreenTec AG as partner, with whom we built the concept for the electricity loyalty program. In September we visited Mali and talked to customers of Africa GreenTec to validate our assumptions and are now preparing the PoCs (Smart Contracts, Oracles (SmartMeters) & software like wallets).