Pilot Insights | Unlocking Access to the Digital Economy for Underserved Youth in Africa Through Web3
In November 2022, Mercy Corps Ventures partnered with Fonbnk to launch a “Learn-to-Earn” (LTE) program focused on financial and web3 literacy in Uganda. Fonbnk is a global marketplace for turning prepaid mobile airtime into cryptocurrency. This pilot aimed to educate and demonstrate the value of web3 and crypto to underserved youth in African markets. Of the 144 participants enrolled in the LTE program, 127 (88%) successfully completed the self-paced online curriculum. Subsequently, 32% of these graduates participated in a 4-week “market maker challenge” with the goal of becoming market makers on Fonbnk’s digital platform.
Africa’s youth population is rapidly growing and expected to double to over 830 million by 2050, yet the continent leads the world in youth unemployment (age groups 15 to 35). By 2025, Africa’s digital economy is estimated to reach $180 billion, representing 5.2% of the continent’s gross domestic product (GDP). Companies such as Fonbnk are enabling qualified individuals to earn additional income with their smartphones by acting as ‘market makers’. Market makers are micro entrepreneurs who facilitate swaps of crypto for airtime to the thousands of Fonbnk users across Sub-Saharan Africa, and earn commissions from these trades.
Insights in Brief
The “Learn-to-Earn” program led to an incremental income of USD$14 per month per market maker, which is equivalent to 18% of the median mobile money agent’s monthly earnings in Kampala, Uganda. Among surveyed participants, 80% reported increased income, with 58% of them seeing significant improvements. Moreover, earnings from Fonbnk translate to an hourly wage of $2.8/hr which is 14 times the hourly minimum wage in the country, thus providing extra flexibility to market makers.
There is strong demand for financial and web3 literacy programs amongst African youth. 87% of surveyed participants did not have prior web3 knowledge or exposure before enrolling for the LTE program. Moreover, Fonbnk surpassed the initial enrollment target by 44% due to a high referral rate.
Peer-based learning was pivotal to ensuring a 88% course completion rate. Through collaborative learning within an online WhatsApp community, students who had rapidly mastered the content provided coaching and guidance to their peers in acquiring the material. In addition, the group fostered a sense of camaraderie and a shared motivation to ensure everyone completed the course.
This report is the second of a two-part series. The first blog outlined the pilot launch, our learning questions, and the hypotheses we set out to prove. This final report provides an overview of the market need, the pilot’s impact, and the key findings.
Written by Timothy Asiimwe, Innovation Project Manager, Mercy Corps Ventures.
