Blockchain for Africa or Blockchain with Africa?

It was April 24, 2018 and I was attending in Bordeaux (France) this social gathering where like minded people were discussing about Blockchain and its potential to disrupt the world as we knew it. More importantly, half the speakers would use catching phrases like “banking the unbanked”, “it’s time for Africa rising with people empowerment through this new technology”, “financial inclusion”.

I looked around the room and it appeared to me that this must have been the 10th conference I attended where Blockchain was portrayed as a savior for Africa but no Africans could be seen in the room except for me.

How could Blockchain be built for Africa but without Africans?

This last week as I contemplate organizing a meetup on Blockchain and Tezos protocol in Cameroon, I remember this awkward moment. As I have gained more knowledge on the ecosystem during the past 2,5 years , I am more convinced than ever that this new technology will revolutionize Africa and help my beloved continent more than we can ever dream of.

But I have also gained a deeply ingrained conviction that this dream will only realize if we give young Africans all the knowledge and the tools and let them come up with use cases that best fit the challenges they are facing on a daily basis. Even I, having lived for the past 20 years in Europe cannot fathom completely all the potential applications of Blockchain in Africa. Of course you have the usual suspects: remittances, smart grids, digital identity but I remain convinced that the most transformative and game-changing applications will only happen after fostering an ambitious educational program around Blockchain in Africa.

We need to provide African youth with the foundations and raw materials on which to build upon and they will do wonders and amaze us all. Let us all remember that Mobile Money came from Africa and it has been a huge success from Day 1 of implementation.

Organizing this first Tezos meetup in Cameroon in July 13/14 (with Nzinghaa Lab and 10000 codeurs) is my way of contributing in building this ecosystem and I am grateful that the Tezos community has mobilized in ways I did not foresee to help me achieve this first stepping stone.

Hopefully, it will only be the start of many other such initiatives across Cameroon then West & Central Africa as I believe the rest of Africa (East, South, North) has already taken few steps ahead in that endeavor.

Special thanks to Tezos Commons Foundation, Tocqueville group, Cryptonomic and many more individuals from Tezos community for reaching out