Cardano Growth Initiative in Nigeria: Driving Developer Onboarding, new projects, and Ecosystem Growth

[GENERAL] Name and surname of main applicant

Abdulkareem Oyeneye

[GENERAL] Are you delivering this project as an individual or as an entity (whether formally incorporated or not)

Entity (Incorporated)

[GENERAL] Please specify how many months you expect your project to last (from 2-12 months)

6

[GENERAL] Please indicate if your proposal has been auto-translated into English from another language

No

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem (200-character limit including spaces)

We're onboarding developers to build Dapps on Cardano, engaging projects for blockchain solutions, and building a community of grassroot developers, founders contributing to Cardano's growth.

[GENERAL] Does your project have any dependencies on other organizations, technical or otherwise?

No

[GENERAL] If YES, please describe what the dependency is and why you believe it is essential for your project’s delivery. If NO, please write “No dependencies.”

No dependency

[GENERAL] Will your project’s output/s be fully open source?

Yes

[GENERAL] Please provide here more information on the open source status of your project outputs

Our project will be completely free and open source for developers around the world to re-use, fork codes and gain relevant knowledges. We have executed successful projects in the past that are open sourced and even free. Some of which include our research & development producing a comprehensive curriculum on mastering Arbitrum.

[METADATA] Horizons

Hackathons

[SOLUTION] Please describe your proposed solution

How do you perceive the problem you are solving?

Despite Cardano’s innovative solution many developers and local projects in Nigeria are unfamiliar with how to build and utilize Cardano's blockchain infrastructure.

What are your reasons for approaching it in the way that you have?

We are addressing the problem at its root through the following activities which we are very experienced in executing:

1. Organizing workshops and hacker houses where developers and non-developers learn and master how to build robust web 3 application using Cardano
2. Hosting hybrid hackathon with prize pools to encourage innovative ideas in building and bringing their projects on chain.
3. Regular community engagement via meetups, AMAs, mentorship, etc.

Who will your project engage?

Our project will engage with traditional developers and blockchain engineers, founders and creators, students and newbies.

How will you demonstrate or prove your impact?

We will prove our impact through the following KPIs & Deliverables:

1. Train 200+ developers on how to build with Cardano's toolkit
2. Produce robust educational material and curriculum on Cardano. Check out the one we did for Arbitrum here
3. Organize a minimum of 10+ hackathon and IRL bootcamps targeted at developers building real-life use case applications.
4. Deploy minimum of 20-30 applications on Cardano via our training, workshops and hackathons.
5. Achieve brand visibility for Cardano amongst the 85,000+ developers in Nigeria.
6. Daily community support, interaction and engagement of participants.
7. Focus on supporting underrepresented founders by pairing them with developers in our community to launch their innovative ideas on Cardano.
8. Collect and give feedback to Cardano's technical team on any bugs or challenges faced and propose a better implementation plan.

[IMPACT] Please define the positive impact your project will have on the wider Cardano community

In what way will the success of your project bring value to the Cardano community?

The success of this project will bring value to Cardano through the following ways:

• Expansion of the Developer Ecosystem: By training over 500 developers in Plutus, Haskell, and Marlowe, we will foster innovation in Dapp creation and grow Cardano’s developer community in Nigeria. This will help scale technical knowledge and build minimal and robust applications for the global ecosystem.
• Increased Real-world Adoption: Engaging underrepresented founders' and developers in Nigerian via hackathons, bootcamps and workshops to integrate Cardano’s blockchain will provide tangible use cases across various sectors. This success can inspire other regions to adopt Cardano for real-world applications.
• Community Growth: This project will bring a surge to Cardano's community engage amongst developers and non-developers.

How will you measure this impact?

The growth of this project can be measured using our proposed KPI's and deliverables:

1. Train 200+ developers on how to build with Cardano's toolkits such as Plutus and Haskell.
2. Produce robust educational material and curriculum on Cardano. Check out the one we did for Arbitrum here
3. Organize a minimum of 10+ hackathon and IRL bootcamps targeted at developers building real-life use case applications.
4. Deploy minimum of 20-30 applications on Cardano via our training, workshops and hackathons.
5. Achieve brand visibility for Cardano amongst the 85,000+ developers in Nigeria.
6. Daily community support, interaction and engagement with participants.
7. Focus on supporting underrepresented founders by pairing them with developers in our community to launch their innovative ideas on Cardano.
8. Collect and give feedback to Cardano's technical team on any bugs or challenges faced and propose a better implementation plan.

[CAPABILITY & FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability? How do you intend to validate if your approach is feasible?

We have delivered similar in the past. Kindly check out some of our past works with links below.

Tractions:

Hackathons & Workshops:

• Organized a one-week hybrid hackathon and workshop focused on Arbitrum SDKs.
• Hosted a 3-day workshop and hackathon on building applications on NEAR.
• Conducted a virtual hackathon centered on Arbitrum Stylus and SDK development.
• Check out some decentralized apps we built

Event Management

•  Organized one of the largest Web3 conferences in Africa.
• Promoted blockchain integration into businesses through pitch competitions that foster innovation and collaboration.

Research and Education: We conducted thorough research on Layer 2 solutions and Arbitrum, culminating in the publication of a comprehensive guide to mastering Arbitrum. This includes:

1. Technical documentation on building with Stylus
2. Instructions on running a BoLD validator node
3. Detailed insights into Roll-ups and other essential topics for developers, users, and validators to scale in the web3 space.

• Link to the curriculum:

Developer Onboarding: We onboarded the first cohort of developers to explore Arbitrum Stylus, a developer framework that enables building on Ethereum using languages like Rust, C++, and more.

[PROJECT MILESTONES] What are the key milestones you need to achieve in order to complete your project successfully?

A. Milestone outputs

Curriculum Creation and Educational Materials.

B. Acceptance criteria

we will create educational materials that include:

• Introduction to Cardano's SDK: Covering the basics of Cardano, its toolkits such as Plutus and Haskell.
• Developer Guide: Comprehensive tutorials on building DeFi applications with Cardano's SDK.
• Video Content: Hands on explanation of how to build applications and integrate Cardano to your existing project.

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Provide prove educational contents created.
• Create a developer guide focusing on Cardano SDK such as Plutus and Haskell.
• Provide video contents of hand on explanations on how to build with Cardano.

A. Milestone outputs

Open Web Tour - Developer Onboarding

B. Acceptance criteria

Organize a series of developer bootcamps across major Nigerian cities to introduce Cardano and its use cases. The bootcamps will focus on educating developers and non-developers on key Cardano's concept such as Marlowe financial contracts for non-developers and Plutus and Haskell for developers to build smart contracts.

Target Cities/places:

• Yaba
• Lagos Island
• Ikeja
• Lasu
• University of Lagos

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Organize workshops across 5 major cities.
• Train 50-100 developers per event to use Cardano SDK.
• Onboard developers to build 10-15 MVP Dapps that leverage Cardano SDK.
• Create a developer community that drives adoption and real-world use of this training.

A. Milestone outputs

Cardano Hacker House

B. Acceptance criteria

Launch a one-month Cardano Hackathon, culminating in a 4-day Hacker House where selected top developers and non-developers will collaborate to create innovative solutions on with Cardano's infrastructure.

C: Evidence of milestone completion

• Deploy 10-15 dApps that utilize Plutus and Haskell in solving real-world problems.
• Onboard 100+ developers, entrepreneurs, and designers to participate in the hackathon.
• Build a sustainable community of developers who can continue contributing to the Cardano ecosystem.
• Organize feedback loops to capture user and developer experience for improving Cardano SDK.
• Share media coverage and insights to raise visibility for the initiative.
• Final report, videos, relevant documentations and project close-out

[RESOURCES] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

• Abdulkareem Oyeneye , project lead: He  is an experienced Project Manager with a strong background in the web3 space, currently contributing to the growth and developer engagement of Arbitrum DAO. He specializes in organizing global workshops, hackathons, and bootcamps, effectively promoting the adoption of innovative blockchain tools. In addition to his technical expertise in blockchain and web3, Abdulkareem is highly skilled in community building, project management, and digital marketing. His freelance marketing work has also helped emerging artists amass millions of streams, highlighting his versatility and talent in both the tech and creative sector.

• Bimpe Wosilat Project manager: She is a climate-neutral advocate and a quality assurance professional with expertise in implementing Lean Six Sigma methods for process improvement and waste reduction. Her passion for empowering women in the web3 space has led her to run various educational initiatives and training programs, significantly facilitating the onboarding process for newcomers, especially women, into the web3 ecosystem.

•  Emmanuel Charles, educator/trainer: He is an experienced software engineer proficient in rust, solidity and typescript. He has contributed to open-source projects on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Near and Solana. He has trained and mentored over 1000+ developers.

• Bolaji Ahmed, mentor, educators: He has many years of experience in rust, substrate, Ink!, and many more. He has worked on several projects in the web3 ecosystem building robust apps and smart contracts.

[BUDGET & COSTS] Please provide a cost breakdown of the proposed work and resources

Budget Breakdown:

Milestone 1 Budget:

• Curriculum & Educational materials - $5,000

Milestone 2 Budget:

Item (per city) * 5 cities Budget USD($) Description

• Venue: 500
• The event may last up to 2 days, depending on how much we cover in training.
• Refreshment: 500
• This will cover food and drinks for the program.
• Educators & instructors: 1,000
• This will pay for the instructors' and speakers' time, welfare, and travel needs.
• Bounty: 500
• To encourage engagement in tasks like technical assignments and writing smart contracts.
• Internet & power supply: 300
• Needed to ensure steady power and internet
• Covers the cost of media coverage.
• Promotion: 300
• Pays for marketing the event, including sponsored ads.
• Logistics & miscellaneous: 200
• Team remuneration: $1,000

Total:

$4,600 * 5 = $23,000

Final Milestone:

Itemized Budget (Per Day)

• Hackathon Prize: $5,000
• Venue/Space: $600 per day, total $2,100
• (Covers the cost for a house/large space per day)
• Refreshments: $600 per day, total $2,100
• (Covers the cost for breakfast, lunch, and dinner)
• Educators & Trainers: $1,000 per day, total $4,000
• (Covers the cost for technical instructors and engineers)
• Branded Clothes, Swag Packs & Decorations: $1,000 per day, total $1,500
• (Covers the cost for backdrop, customized clothes, and photo designs)
• Promotion: No daily cost, total $3,000
• (Includes the cost for marketing and advertising the event)
• Videography & Photography: $400 per day, total $1,600
• (Covers the cost for media coverage)
• Usher, Support & Security, Volunteers: $300 per day, total $1,200
• (Covers the cost for external support and security)
• Logistics: $200 per day, total $1,200
• (Covers the cost for transporting items)
• Power Supply & Internet: $200 per day, total $800
• (Set to cater for power outages and internet connection)
• Miscellaneous: $150 per day, total $600
• (Covers minor costs)
• Team remuneration: $4,000

Total: 28,100

Grand Total: 56,100

[VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The Cardano Growth Initiative in Nigeria represents strong value for money, with an investment of $56,100 generating significant long-term impact by onboarding 200+ developers, creating comprehensive educational materials, organizing workshops, bootcamps & hackathons, and establishing a sustainable community hub for Cardano in Nigeria.

Costs are calculated ensuring efficient use of funds while delivering measurable growth for the Cardano ecosystem. This project offers a cost-effective approach to expanding Cardano’s presence in Africa.