June 2018 Mobius Featured Developer!
We’re starting a new monthly series where we feature developers who’ve built DApps on the Mobius platform. To kick it off for the launch of the redesigned DApp store, we sat down with Gbolahan Onadeko — better known on Telegram by his handle, @flarcos.
First off, where are you from?
I’m from Lagos, Nigeria. I got my degree in Business Administration from Lagos State Polytechnic.
How did you get interested in programming?
I had a lot of ideas for businesses but couldn’t get them off the ground without a developer. For example, I wanted to build a remittance service since the current process is expensive and such a hassle. My family and clients have also sent funds through these companies, so I’ve felt the pain first hand. At some point, I just decided to learn how to program so I could build the things I visualized.
How did you learn to code?
I just Googled things and taught myself basic HTML and then PHP. I started with https://www.w3schools.com. Then I tried coding and Googled anything that I had questions about, which often led me to sites like Stack Overflow.
What’s your job now?
I’m CTO at RocRemit (formerly known as ToNaira). RocRemit provides instant, cheap, and secure remittance and B2B transactions using the Stellar blockchain. I work with @AkinSawyerr who is the CEO, Andrew Berkowitz, and Tony Olendo. I am responsible for managing all the company’s technological requirements and development.
How did you hear about Mobius?
I heard about it on the public Stellar slack channel. I am a regular there, as I was a winner in the 4th Stellar Build Challenge for my remittance app, ToNaira.
ToNaira is built specifically for the Nigerian market. Africa is the most under-served and over-charged remittance market in the world, and by using the Stellar Network to transmit value ToNaira can transfer funds at a fraction of a fraction of current rates, which can be withdrawn into Nigerian fiat Naira quickly and at minimal cost. ToNaira is also on the Mobius DApp store and now also accepts MOBI, in addition to XLM and traditional payments like Visa, Amex, Mastercard, Paypal.
Cool! Yes, Stellar is an important partner. How did you hear about them?
I saw a Stellar Facebook ad about how fast and efficient Stellar is with little to no fees. At the time, I was getting very frustrated with the traditional remittance companies and decided to look into Stellar as an alternative.
Traditional remittance companies charge high fees (15–25%) that take out a big chunk of the total amount meant to be sent to family and friends. On top of that, most of the time it takes forever for the receiving party to receive the money — they have to wait in line at the store and there is often a 24-hour delay in the full release of funds.
Compare this to my remittance app, ToNaira, which charges 0.3% per transaction and settles transactions within seconds over the Stellar network.
What made you interested in building a DApp on Mobius?
I liked the fact that it is an app store that charges an almost free rate for apps — I’ve looked at other app stores like Google and Apple and the 30% they charge developers is not encouraging. Also, the fact that Mobius is easy to plug into — the documentation is all on the site and clear.
How hard was it to build a DApp?
Pretty straight forward with the right tools and mindset. I found out there was no number lottery ticket game on Stellar so I decided to create one on the Mobius platform.
All in all, it took me a week to create Stellarball and upload it to the Mobius DApp store. At its peak in January, 70+ people were playing Stellarball each day.
How does Stellarball work?
How much money have you made from your DApps on the Mobius Store?
So far, over $10,000 USD since the end of August 2017 when I uploaded it. (In comparison, the average yearly salary in Nigeria is about $4,000 USD.)
What are your plans for the future?
I’m planning to create a MMORPG based on the Stellar blockchain. It’ll include chat, hall of fame, weekly special events, customizable avatar, character evolution levels of difficulty… A mystic strategy game in its own niche that can make you win or lose cryptocurrency tokens.
What advice do you have for other developers thinking about building DApps on Mobius?
Get creative and enjoy all the features Mobius provides!
What advice do you have for the Mobius team?
Give developers more incentives to build on your platform, such as a build challenge, partnerships with DApp developers or outright sponsoring of projects that at the end would be on the DApp store and drive traffic.
Those are great ideas! And in fact we just launched a Global Hackathon —check it out!
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