Figuring out how to participate in blockchain is slow and tedious. It’s no surprise that a large number of the people who are in the space now are those with backgrounds and careers in tech; lacking that, the barriers to entry can just seem too high.
This is why, when we talk about blockchain being a powerful tool to potentially “bank the unbanked” in places like Africa, the question of onboarding is no small matter. Many people in these regions don’t just lack banks. There isn’t a laptop in every lap; even reliable power and internet can be a question.
This is why we were so elated with the results of our Swahili Learn to Earn program, funded by Project Catalyst Fund 9. By offering a monetary incentive for participation and learning, we were able to onboard more than 400 new Cardano users in Swahili speaking Africa. In the weeks since we had to close registration due to budget limits, 83 more have joined a waiting list.
If the community supports us in Project Catalyst Fund 10, we will re-open the program with some huge updates, based on what we learned in the pilot project.
Details about these plans can be found here:
Feedback? Suggestions?
If we are funded to continue with our onboarding experiments in Swahili Speaking Africa, we would expect to bring another 1000 users into the Cardano ecosystem. These participants would get a Cardano wallet, some ADA, and a verified credential in an identity wallet. They would be rewarded for staking their ada to a Cardano pool. They would learn about Project Catalyst and how they can participate in decentralized governance. They would be encouraged to build a community of learners through the referral program. As always, Lido Nation would be sharing the results of the program with you, and looking forward to the next big thing that we might build together!
If you are excited about seeing more decentralized identity solutions on Cardano launched in Africa, we hope you will bring us your votes in Fund 10. If you have any questions or ideas for us, please leave a comment here or on Ideascale, or reach out to us at hello@lidonation.com.
Do you know of other projects that are using incentivization to boost blockchain learning & onboarding? Any that are using Atala PRISM or other identity solutions? Drop a link in the comments!