d-Cargo: Decentralized Cargo

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Motivation

In Cameroon, delivery services are not optimized for efficiency. It is uncommon for freight drivers to travel with full loads on all legs of their journeys, however there is a high demand for freight services. More often than not, trucks travel somewhere and return empty. This is obviously an inefficient system and is not favorable to the carrier or those who seek freight services.

On the way back, it happens, occasionally, that the driver finds packages to transport due to sheer demand. People often travel between cities with significant amounts of goods/produce struggling to find a means of transport for their cargo to get to their destination. The search for the means of transport is very often difficult, random, imprecise and ends up being very expensive when you have to hire a truck for the situation. This is where CARGO electronic platform comes in-- not only to connect the carrier and the person seeking freight services, but also in a much broader sense to create a sort of transport exchange where entities providing such services and those requiring such services are connected.

Justification and inventory

We have found that our mothers, sisters, daughters, commonly known as Bayam-Sellam, (people, commonly women, who buy goods in bulk to then go and sell them in other cities) encounter a lot of difficulties in bringing the goods purchased into metropolises such as Douala and Yaoundé. They have to wait randomly for an opportunity of a truck returning empty to deliver the goods to take advantage of it and transport theirs goods. In addition, truckers in turn seek to find these types of opportunities to make some money during their journey. However there is no organized method to this and the lack of synchronization between carriers and customers causes a lot of inconvenience and unnecessary hurdles. Sometimes the truck passes just a few moments before the customer starts waiting (and they get un-lucky) other times they could catch them right in time, it's really all about luck. With our solution, these types of situations can easily be resolved.

At this time, there is no digital decentralized space that coordinates truck drivers to those seeking freight services.Our platform aims to bring a solution to that by enabling the following:

• Platform for carriers (truck drivers) to expose their transport services (specifically a place to post where they are traveling significant distances with empty loads)
• Where customers can publish their transport requirements from point A to point B
• Platform that will connect these two parties: carriers and customers

Problem

It would be profitable for the carrier and the customer to optimize their movement between cities. To achieve this, it is necessary to answer the following questions:

• How to find a customer in need of goods transportation service on a specific route?
• How to find a carrier offering a transportation service on a specific route?
• Where to publish freight transportation services?
• Where should I address my needs for freight transportation or to offer freight capacity services in the CEMAC sub-region?
• Where to buy and resell the services / transportation needs of goods in the CEMAC sub-region?

Context

In Cameroon, and throughout the CEMAC sub-region 3G/4G coverage rate is estimated at more than 80% in major cities such as Douala and Yaoundé. Populations are more and more inclined to use smartphones and tablets. This availability of technologies and the ease with which they can be used could constitute a solid basis for proposing a digital solution to the aforementioned problems.

Objective

We aim to achieve a decentralized digital platform taking into account the realities of CEMAC sub-region that is able to:

• Allow any carrier to find customers who best suit their journey.
• Allow customers to find carriers offering them transportation services.
• Connect a carrier and a person requesting transportation services.
• Allow anyone to negotiate transportation services.
• Allow agents to facilitate the connection for those who do not have smart phones.

Proposed solution

How it works

Any carrier can register on the platform. To benefit from the services, he will have to subscribe to the platform (for a fee). The periods vary between a month, quarter, or semester or the year. Each time he makes a trip with empty space in his truck, he publishes this trip on the platform. Any visitor to the platform can see their offer, but to obtain the contact of the carrier, the visitor must pay a fixed amount. After subscribing, the contact details of the carrier are made available to the visitor. The latter can contact the carrier at any time to arrange for the transport of his freight. After successful negotiation, the carrier can mark the offer as taken. When the travel date has passed, the system automatically deactivates the offer.

For a person requesting transport services, he registers on the platform and publishes his service needs. Up-to-date carriers (having regularly subscribed to its services) likely to provide this service will be notified by SMS, e-mail or by PUSH notification on the mobile application created for this purpose. It is provided with the contacts of carriers who can provide this service. Any visitor to the platform can view published service requirements. To obtain the contacts of the one who published it, the visitor must pay a fixed amount.

Agents on the platform will pay a fixed rate for a period. They will have visibility on the contacts of any transport service requirement. They will be able to negotiate service offers for others and have a small cut in the negotiations.

Technical components

In a specific way, the following subsystems are potential sub-modules of the MVP product.

• An IAM system that leverages Atala prism Software Development Kit (SDK). This will be the foundational building block for the governance and reputation management modules
• A delivery Aggregation and optimization sub-module to optimize trips.
• Tokenize the CO2 emissions offset that results from aggregating and combining trips with same destinations and pickup points
• A notification system and an interface for stakeholders: For carriers and customers there will be a proximity based notification and for customers delivery status updates
• Work with local microfinance institution to model an exchange mechanism that will allow transaction from (to) physical local currencies as needed
• Model a native token pegged to the value of the local currency for micro-payment within the network for a later version. For the MVP version we will stick to mobile money payment options
• A mobile app with a payment interface including a QR code for managing transactions within our DAO network

=>Click here for more context about Disruptive IT Cameroon, A Wada Hub

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

This is a dApp that could provide a lot of value to the African marketplace where an organized exchange like this does not yet exist.

We intend to complete the research we started on this project a few years ago, and to deliver an MVP (minimal viable product) that will set the stage for the next funding round.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

The major issues we might encounter are:

• Lack of financial resources for the promotion of the platform
• Lack of initial engagement of people and communities in need

The solutions to mitigate these risks are:

• We will receive funding through this proposal to promote the MVP
• At launch, services on CARGO will be free. This will encourage users to try it.
• We will use social networks to promote the application.
• We will be very excited to promote the MVP to the whole community. The reasons are simple because the innovations introduced by the platform respond in a trivial way to the concerns of the populations.
• We will use Youtube channels, social networks to promote CARGO

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

• 3 months post funding - Complete project specification and start research on the ground
• 6 months post funding - specification for MVP DAO system fully elaborated, designed and ready to implement
• 12 months post funding- successful launch of MVP DAO, allowing users to test the system. 100s of users signing up and engaging in our DAO.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Total Budget: 9 000

• Ground surveys & interview logistics (recording materials, and displacement costs): $1 000
• Team motivations (3 Developers $150 x 12 months): $ 5 500
• Project oversight and coordination: $1 000
• Marketing $1 000
• MVP Deployment Logistics: $500

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Manfo: Cameroon Team Co-Lead, Senior software architect & developer, 12+ year of experience programming, 3+ years in functional programming paradigm (F#, Haskell, Elm), Multilingual (French, English, Italian, Ngiembo)

Manfo is in charge of the design and architecture

Nkalla: Senior software architect & developer, 12+ year of experience programming, 3+ years in functional programming paradigm (Haskell), Mathematics teacher (Education Systems Engineering), Multilingual (French, Italian, English, Mbo)

Nkalla in charge of the technical implementation

Megan: Wada Cameroon Hub Co-Lead, Central Africa Coordination Lead, Wada core team member (Education and Event Lead), Maths & Physics teacher, bilingual (French & English)

Megan is in charge of coordinating tasks

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Yes. I will be returning to seek funding to complete the project.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

• A fully redacted specification document
• A completed white paper for future implementation
• A fully functioning MVP

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

• 3 months post funding - Complete project specification and start research on the ground
• 6 months post funding - specification for MVP DAO system fully elaborated, designed and ready to implement
• 12 months post funding- successful launch of MVP DAO, allowing users to test the system. 100s of users signing up and engaging in this MVP DAO.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This a new proposal