Mamadou K. Touré — A Man with a Vision and Heart (and Coins) of Gold.
Imagine that we live in a world where a continent like Africa, rich in resources such as diamonds, oil, uranium, platinum, natural gas, cobalt, iron, bauxite, silver, gold, and more, is also considered one of the poorest places in the world.
How is this even possible?
Well, one could dwell on the past and continuing exploitation of Africa, or choose instead to focus on the positive. One ray of light is a visionary man with a plan who is intent on unlocking Africa’s productivity for the benefit of its people and thereby changing how Africa is perceived.
Meet Mamadou Kwidjim Touré.
Cameroon born, European educated, and with a literal heart of gold, he is also one of the top 30 most influential people in the Blockchain industry and previously in the top 10 most powerful men in Africa. Today, Mamadou is actively creating a more inclusive way of redistributing wealth that would help emancipate people in Africa and their communities.
A leader in business with a career that began at KPMG in Paris, France, Mamadou Touré has years of experience and value to offer.
In 2010, he founded Africa 2.0, a non-profit which provides a space for the gathering of young African leaders and their counterparts throughout the diaspora. He is also the founder and CEO of Ubuntu Capital Group — which provides advisory and investment services, and Ubuntu Tribe — which is blockchain-driven and allows people to access ethical gold digitally.
At Ubuntu, he is creating an economic ecosystem where communities can interact through frictionless peer-to-peer trades and where the exchange of knowledge is valued and encouraged.
This man knows what he’s doing.
Over the years, he has observed a flawed and broken system when it comes to centralized banking and believes in leveraging the use of innovative technologies throughout Africa to redefine access to wealth. To note, an astounding 70% of people in Africa remain unbanked despite its technological advances and numerous natural resources.
This is where the Ubuntu brand aspires to make the most significant contribution by allowing access for everyone to participate in this global economy. The big idea is to transform Africa’s mineral resources into a viable blockchain-based currency that can be trusted within the Africa continent and on the global stage.
Ubuntu Coin (or U-Coin — UBX) is essentially a ‘tokenized convertible warrant’ backed by gold. The investment is used to pre-finance artisanal gold-mining, in addition to small and medium-scale goldmines.
Investor pre-financing benefits include a discount on the extraction of physical gold produced; they can convert for gold (through GODL, a digital asset where each unit represents 0.001g of gold) after one year at a 5% discount, and if they keep the financial instrument for three years, they can achieve a 15% discount at conversion.
Consumer transaction fees for using UBX are 1.6%, but 10% of those fees are reinvested into local communities — building hospitals, schools, etc., with a portion also going towards the Ubuntu Foundation, one of the largest shareholders of the Ubuntu Tribe.
Always with the future of the planet in mind, Ubuntu’s model emphasizes ethical gold mining. They have previously assisted mines to extract 10% more gold in a cleaner, more sustainable way without using Mercury. These practices are very beneficial to the health of the miners and preserve the quality of the land and surrounding environments.
Mamadou Kwidjim Touré is actively working to create a world where a consumer can also be a financial stakeholder. Time will tell whether it is a viable wealth-creation model. What is certain is that his efforts, if successful, can lead to high social impact, genuinely making the world a better place, improving lives, inspiring change through expressing the productivity of the African continent.
Go Ubuntu, Go!
By Nadine A. Jack.
XTM; 2020.
