Zimbabwe Developers for Cardano

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# Executive Summary

WADA introduces and endorses, as part of the Planting Roots in Africa initiative, in partnership with local businesses, represented by Anthony Jackson of Betaplum, and Sacha Robinson of Wutano, this proposal that seeks to introduce both major city centers in Zimbabwe to the Cardano and Catalyst community.

The people of Zimbabwe are in a truly dire situation. Government mandates follow policies dictated by self-interests, and represent a significant challenge to the wellbeing of its people, and innovation to the same extend. Creating an initiative that is centralised is a risk in itself. Based on our experience, we recommend a revised approach to physical hubs, while still carrying the flag of Cardano onto the frontlines.

The primary objective is to create interest for local business in smart contracts, the Catalyst community, and to become activity involved via Hackathons hosted every 2 months. We will support local technology communities in hosting their own events, mitigating the risk of government intervention.

As a Zimbabwean, it is my belief that this program would re-ignite the entrepreneurial spirit that would lift local communities out of poverty. By encouraging parallel initiatives we not only protect the movement from being shut down, but it will likely better meet the needs of the people on the ground, and generate more jobs than a centralised collective.

# Strategy

• Identify existing technology focused groups
• Create and market a value chain for developers in Blockchain technology
• Generate or collate course materials for the developer onboarding
• Incentivise these groups to host Hackathons
• Encourage entrepreneurs to participate on projects well suited to smart contracts
• Groom the process into a multitude of independent accelerator programs
• Deploy a Stake Pool for the local community outside the borders of Zimbabwe (South Africa)

# Research

=> Tech Communities

Betaplum has already engaged the local tech communities in Bulawayo, and identified equivalent groups in Harare, with a total membership base of 40+ developers. A large (but incomplete) list are available through Betaplum Slack channels.

=> Entrepreneurial Projects

Wutano and Betaplum collectively have a number of suitable projects that would benefit from being involved in accelerator programs. With a team on the ground, and leadership prepared to champion Blockchain, building trust not only for its users but with plans to develop resilient business networks. Sacha Robinson has an existing Business Network, and will expand his reach to find other suitable projects.

=> Stake Pool

Betaplum is a technology provider, and has cheap hardware in reliable data-centers in Johannesburg which can be used to host the Zimbabwe Stake Pool immediately.

# Statement of Need

=> What critical need does your project or program address?

• Lack of exposure to the benefits of Blockchain technology
  - As a developer that can charge for their services
  - As an entrepreneur with businesses well suited to smart contract
• Providing Zimbabwe with rapid development programs for projects that would become too numerous in number for the Government to be able develop a counter strategy
• Creating a Stake Pool to be used by smart contracts developed for the local community

# Project Activities

=> What specific activities do you propose to meet this need?

• Identify communities and influencers who are high value for early adoption
• Create and/or accumulate content targeting these groups
• Above and beyond marketing, incentives participation through Hackathons that create value chains
• Monitor the process, retrospectively refining each event to maximise participation
• Have local resources reactively handle challenges that would seek to impede the progress of the program, and possibly provide support to small businesses who were encouraged to launch their products using Blockchain
• Install a Stake Pool into the datacenter in Johannesburg, South Africa

=> What is the work plan or approach being taken?

• Meet with technology groups leaders
• Develop and/or accumulate content based on feedback
• Launch a monthly Hackathon with prizes to incentivise developers
• Develop white-papers for a number of local business projects
• Partner with local businesses to market the Hackathons, and develop local business networks
• Review, and re-iterate until
  - Development groups sustain their own momentum
  - Entrepreneurs become aware of the Cardano and Catalyst community as a mechanism to launch new ventures
  - The movement can not be massively impacted should any one group be prevented from participating in the efforts

=> What will be the output from the project?

• Plutus trained developers
• Smart contract based small businesses
• Accelerator programs which bring these those groups together
• Zimbabwe Cardano Champions; Market, Evolve and Protect local efforts
• Southern African Stake Pool

=> What metrics will be used to track success?

• Trained developers
• Hosted Hackathons
  - Nominated projects
  - Participating developers
• Business based on smart contracts
  - Employed Plutus developers
• Unique customer wallets
• Staked ADA
• Stake Pool uptime

=> What geographical areas will be served?

• Zimbabwe
• South Africa (TBA)

# Milestones

Phase 1 ~ 4 Week

• Developer Outreach
• Whitepaper design for Hackathon Launch

Phase 2 ~ 8 weeks

• Content Collation
• Deploy Stake Pool
• Haskel Courses / Training

Phase 3 ~ 8 weeks

• Plutus Courses / Training
• Hackathon Marketing / Business Network Events

Phase 4 ~ 1 week

• Hackathon
• Business Development Events
• Retrospection and Reporting
• Restart

These Hackathon events will serve as a business networking opportunity for entrepreneurs and developers to come together to work on new ventures. They will continue indefinitely, and be hosted as regularly as the process permits.

# Community or Cause

=> Who would be served by this project or program? Or, what cause would be advanced?

• Software developers
• Small business owners

# Team Qualifications

=> In what way is your organisation and your staff qualified to undertake this project or program?

Anthony Jackson

• Zimbabwean, born and raised in Bulawayo
• Software Architect (10+ year experience)
• Business Owner

Sacha Robinson

• Founder of Wutano
• Founder of Dung Beetle Farms (200+ investors)
• Zimbabwean

=> Why is the proposer qualified to address the issue or subject for which funds are being sought?

As part of a Betaplum program in 2020, laid much of the groundwork in creating a Zimbabwean development community to serve local businesses. It is based on this existing effort that we are confident in the approach.

Anthony Jackson, Software Architect, Founder of Betaplum. 10+ years of experience in FinTech as well as numerous industries related but not limited to health care, government services, banking, and Big Tech business partners, will make all technology-related decisions.

Wutano has an active project with an engaged user-base. Their business model is very inclusive, with an ever growing partner network. Sacha Robins will take a leading role in marketing and business development, leveraging his network and team to maximise the value proposition of Blockchain.

Sacha Robinson, Masters in Business Administration, Higher Diploma in Strategic Innovation, 20 years exp as business owner and director in blue chip companies. Founder of Dung Beetle Farms, with over 200 investors and Founder of Wutano Life Trust which has a supplier network of over 100 professionals and supplier personnel providing services to Wutano members.

# Partnerships and Collaboration

=> If your project or program serves people or communities, how do you know they support your project or program and will participate?

The primary objective of the project is to reach out to the development community in Zimbabwe. They are already eager to participate in ventures that will result in their employment.

=> Other than your own staff, who will work with you in this project or program?

• Betaplum
• Wutano
• WADA

=> What other projects or programs are addressing this need? How does your project or program differ? What effort will you make to work cooperatively (if applicable)?

There are no other programs. We will be partnering with local development organisations, some of whom run Hackathons on occasion.

# Social networks

https://wadalliance.org/

https://betaplum.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyza/

https://wutano.com/about-us/

# Vision of Success

=> If the project or program goes really well, what will success look like in the long term (i.e., beyond the grant period)?

Numerous smart contract-based companies in Zimbabwe, being created out of accelerator programs hosted in all existing technology hubs in major cities in Zimbabwe, each operating independently.

# Evaluation Plan

=> Identify 3-5 targets that will help you assess your progress toward long-term success in the short term (i.e., during the grant period).

• Developer Signups
• Company Signups
• Tech Hub progress reports

# Challenges

=> What potential challenges-internal or external-could make it harder to achieve short-term and/or long-term success?

• Interference by the Zimbabwe government
• Developers leaving the country after becoming qualified

# Risk Management

=> How will you address the foreseen challenges?

==> Interference by the Zimbabwe government

• Support rather than champion programs, shielding our efforts
• Simultaneously have an action team that can aid in the challenges for smart contract based companies
• Have as many development houses participated in the initiative, creating a non-unified collective that is difficult to directly target

==> Developers leaving the country after becoming qualified

• Encourage job creation in local companies that participate in the accelerator programs
• Otherwise, their skills will be useful to the Cardano community, just not of value to the Zimbabwe efforts

# Budget Narrative

=> What is the justification for the amount of money requested?

• Courses need to be developed, or sourced, and supported
• Travel, time and accommodation to physically meet and identify community leaders
• Incentives must be in place to draw attention to an otherwise foreign concept to companies and developers alike
• Stake pool setup costs
• Business profiling, outreach programs, and follow-up admin
• Project oversight, reporting, refinement, thought work and otherwise general admin work required to ensure the success of the project

=> Describe in narrative format the sources of all funding for this project or program and how you propose to use the requested grant from Catalyst.

Our primary objective is to host Hackathons. With funding we create a list of technology hubs in Zimbabwe, make efforts to meet and identify their respective community leaders in person, and incentivize them to participate in creating a value chain which their members would participate in. Courses will be created that specifically target each group. Regular progress updates will need to be provided on the readiness of the developers, to align with the launch of the Hackathons per group.

In parallel, in partnership with Betaplum and Wutano, Zimbabwe companies well suited to smart contract development will be introduced to the Cardano community, and whitepapers for use in the Hackathons will be drafted. Enough projects should be scoped to meet the value chain proposed in each group, meeting the developers' expectations.

Funds will be allocated to prize money for the Developers, with a degrading quantity, hopefully to be supplemented by interested business ventures once the value has been established in the market.

Each hackathon event will need to be well marketed, providing maximum support to the respective tech hub host.

A team will be tasked with supporting the businesses, collecting and apply strategies to address challenges specific to the Zimbabwe situation.

A secondary objective is to be able to serve the local community with a Stake Pool. Betaplum will be tasked with the completion of the work, and is only really needed once companies with smart contracts have been established. Hardware is already available.

# Long Term Funding Strategy

=> If you will need funding for this project or program after the grant period has ended, please describe how you expect to obtain future support.

Companies participating in Hackathons will buy tickets to the events. This will be seen as a business networking event, as well as a Hackathon.

# Budget Breakdown

Phase 1 ~ Month 1-2

• Travel Budget => $1000
• Course Development => $3000
• Business Outreach => $2880

Phase 2 ~ Month 2-8

• Developer Wallets => $1000
• Stake Pool Setup => $4000

Phase 3 ~ 4-12

• Hackathon Prizes => $8000
• Hackathon Event => $4000
• Event Staff => $6720

Total => $30600

Excluding Phase 3 => $11880

Certainly phase 3 could be delayed to a later funding round, I have chose not to. As far as I am aware the funds are released gradually anyway, and in this category I do not fear excluding other better proposals. May the best project win! 🙂

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