Unsung NFT Marketplace with DeFi

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Nifty Row NFT Marketplace for the unsung supports audio and visual art including both digital art and contemporary fine art. Nifty Row has a simple mission to empower the unsung art communities starting in Africa to leverage blockchain technology to eliminate the issues of trust, authenticity and provenance of artwork while improving time to market. 

Nifty Row will also develop a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) services such as credit, savings, staking and insurance which are usually not easily accessible to artists.

Nifty Row will also feature the Nifty Row Token which will be managed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that will operate through blockchain governance. 

The Nifty Row DAO token will function via the marketplace to provide ongoing support for the creative community by means of :

•Early access to presales

•Authorized Collections

•Voting on proposals

•Guaranteed royalties

•NFT Lots

•Discounted Fees

•Exclusive Access to Mint

•Funding of Creative Initiatives and Projects

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

Nifty Row NFT Marketplace for the unsung supports audio and visual art including both digital art and contemporary fine art. Nifty Row has a simple mission to empower the unsung art communities starting in Africa to leverage blockchain technology to eliminate the issues of trust, authenticity and provenance of artwork while improving time to market. 

Nifty Row will also develop a DeFi (Decentralized Finance) services such as credit, savings, staking and insurance which are usually not easily accessible to artists.

Nifty Row will also feature the Nifty Row Token which will be managed by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) that will operate through blockchain governance. 

The Nifty Row DAO token will function via the marketplace to provide ongoing support for the creative community by means of :

•Early access to presales

•Authorized Collections

•Voting on proposals

•Guaranteed royalties

•NFT Lots

•Discounted Fees

•Exclusive Access to Mint

•Funding of Creative Initiatives and Projects

Answer

Total Alignment with the Cardano project catalyst Fund 9 Mission - “Dapps, Products & Integrations will increase utility & adoption of Cardano” is exactly what we are trying to do with this platform.

We plan to help the hundreds of millions of online creatives in the unsung regions starting in Africa, to begin creating, collaborating and financially saving to secure their futures via a Ada powered platform.

The proposed solution will possibly impact the Cardano ecosystem by increasing Ada adoption through the use of the Nifty Row NFT Marketplace across the unsung region (Africa, South America and MENA region).

Marketing Plan

A. Influencer Marketing: We will work with top African influencers on twitter, tiktok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook as well as notable youth public figures and skit makers.

Some key influencers in the African/Nigerian Blockchain Community include:

Crypto Round Up Africa @CRAspaces on Twitter. Join in for a Twitter Spaces session to discuss Cardano Protocol.

BTCryptoCoach @ThePaulOla on Twitter. 25.4k Twitter followers and an active Telegram Channel having 4.2k Subscribers.

Crypto Coach @wisdomMatic on Twitter. 40.8k Twitter followers

Tola Joseph Fadugbagbe on Facebook. Founder Crypto Masterclass. Has 29k+ followers on Facebook.

Other Large Scale Influencers

@Asemota on Twitter 188K followers

@mrmacaronii on Twitter. 1.3M followers.

Sydneytalker on Instagram. 3.3M followers.

B. Community Marketing: We will invest in building a community that will be hosted on a messaging platform like telegram, Slack or Whatsapp. This will help with engagement, networking and dissemination of information. This community will also give members a sense of belonging. We already have a telegram channel Telegram: Join Group Chat 4 and a twitter handle twitter.com/NIftyRow

C. Event Marketing: We will leverage existing events and also create our own events - virtual and physical. This will help establish us as authorities in this space and open up for more opportunities. It is also a great way for us to do PR.

D. Content Marketing: We will leverage on these channels to put out content - blog, twitter spaces, clubhouse sessions, Youtube, podcast. This will serve as a funnel to build our community.

E. Email Marketing: We will leverage this to give updates to members of our community. These emails will be sent out weekly or can be sent as a monthly roundup.

F. PR: To stay top of mind, drive awareness and relevance, we will invest in doing PR quarterly. This can be on radio, TV or popular digital news and tech blogs.

G. Events: Finally, for the purpose of strengthening Cardano's African ecosystem, it will be important to continue sponsor and participate in events such as conferences & meetup for the creative communities in Africa.

H. Good Publicity: For the success of a Creatives DAO we believe it is crucial to spread the word on the benefits of Cardano -and blockchain at large to various key stakeholders in government and the general public who have misconception of blockchain as been related to money laundering and scams. A good outline of Cardano's project catalyst with appropriate media campaign will go a long way to alleviate this misconceptions.

Furthermore, the governments can be made more aware of the negative impact of counterfeiting on the creative communities including stagnant growth of the art industry and increased unemployment. (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/23923/The0economic0e0developing0countries.pdf;sequence=1)

For an example, according to an article By Gerard de Kamper, the Chief Curator Collections, University of Pretoria,  estimated that about 30% of artwork searches online yielded in fakes and it's mostly the black modernists (1960-1990) whose legacies are suffering. (https://qz.com/africa/1733915/the-popularity-of-african-art-has-led-to-a-market-for-forgeries/)

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

In Nigeria which has the third largest crypto community in the world, users are experiencing hastily by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which issued a circular to Banks restricting them from offering Banking services to Crypto companies or known users. 

In the 3rd quarter of 2021 a federal high court has ruled against CBN on the matter and has instructed CBN to grant approval of banking services. 

However, our company is registered in more neutral jurisdiction i.e. United Kingdom away from the reach of the CBN.

Also, the crypto adoption level in Nigeria and Africa has since doubled and crypto trading has grown through P2P services.

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

Milestones

---------

Weeks 1-8:   Development/Integration of feature-complete marketplace on Ada

Weeks 9-16: Nifty Row DeFi Wallet featuring Ada for staking, savings, credit and insurance.

Weeks 17-22: Support for Cardano Mainnet launch (Cloud hosting, Network Security)

Weeks 9-26: Community development and engagement (Nifty Row DAO)

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Total grant request of $80,000 would be allocated as below:

$10,000 Development/Integration of feature-complete marketplace on Ada

$10,000 Development of App/DeFi Wallet featuring Ada for staking, savings, credit and insurance.

$10,000 community engagement (webinars, meetups, competitions) for Nifty Row DAO

$5,000 prelaunch product Testing/Quality Assurance from Alpha to Beta

$5,000 Support for Ada Mainnet launch (Cloud hosting, Network Security, Third tools & Support)

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

Team:

Mobolaji Onibudo has 19 years of experience in technology consulting and project management.

Recently, he was project executive in the implementation of the first African Blockchain projects under the, Nigerian Stock Exchange and also with the Customs Service for the Excise Trade Department. He started his professional career at Citrix Systems in the UK and later worked at CapitalOne, CapGemini USA. He has a B.Eng. In Computer Systems Engineering from University of Kent UK and an MSc. in Management & Systems from New York University, U.S.A.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/abayomi-onibudo-5bbbb338/

Segun Akintayo is a seasoned software architect/engineer and project manager with 13 years of experience in the development of biometric-based KYC systems. he his also a developer for MetaMask wallet under Consensys. His solutions and systems are currently being used in over 10 countries across Africa for both SIM registration and bank customer registration. He led in the Blockchain development for the Nigerian Stock Exchange first blockchain trading platform. He is a graduate with a BTech in Computer science from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Nigeria.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/segunakintayo/

Femi Ashru brings a wealth of skills and experience in Software Product Architecture for go-live readiness which he applied to similar blockchain projects in past including XendBit and XendCredit. He possess strong leadership drawn from hands on Software Engineering with over 18 years’ experience in several leading firms and start-ups including NEC, weComm (now Opentext), Leapsoft, Opus Hive and Okasho. He obtained a BEng and MPhil. In Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Manchester and UMIST respectively from the UK.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/chinedu-ogu-59b765119

Bella Ikema is a Sales and marketing growth enabler, having 10+ years of experience in the marketing and sales of premium products and services to high-net individuals as well as corporate clients across sectors such as professional services, luxury brands, hospitality for audio/visual technology transformation and interior design. She has developed content strategy & copywriting expertise from several years developing & crafting compelling, informative and thought leadership content for brand building, lead generation & relationship nurturing for Pan-African & global individual and corporate brands. Bella obtained a Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Radiologic Technology.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/bella-ikeme-70aa4374/

Chinedu Ogu is a software engineer with over 6 years experience developing enterprise software solutions across various fields including Fintech, Real Estate and Blockchain technology. He has developed solutions for a hybrid of User Interfaces including Mobile and Desktop devices supporting Android, iOS, iPhone and Tablets. He has an HND from Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Nigeria.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/chinedu-ogu-59b765119

Oliver Enwonwu is an art historian, publisher, and curator, Oliver Enwonwu is the director and founder of Omenka Gallery. He his a consultant to British founded American Sotheby’s which is also the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewelry, and collectibles. From 2009 to 2021, he served as president of the Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA), established in 1963 as the professional body for all visual artists in Nigeria. Enwonwu is also CEO of Revilo Company, publishers of Omenka, Africa’s first art, business and luxury-lifestyle magazine and Network, the bi-monthly magazine of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce. A third-generation artist, he is the son of late Professor Ben Enwonwu MBE, Africa’s pioneer modernist artist.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-enwonwu-cmc-fimc-70485330/

Sadiq Williams leads business development and strategy with a strong background in Creative - Technical - Solutions in the fields of Design (Architecture), Multimedia (Advertorials, Animation, Bespoke Events, Character Design, Content Providers (Audio & Visuals), Digital Music Deals, etc.) and Project Management. As an experienced artist with curatorial experience he his able to contribute immensely to Nifty Row’s partnership signups within the creative business environment.  He has a BA (Hons) Degree in Architecture & Design from Kingston University, UK.

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/sadiq-williams-65315617/

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

Yes, for further awareness and adoption of Ada in Africa we will continue to facilitate community engagement and development activities. In addition we will continue to develop new features and services to the marketplace for help foster adoption.

[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?

Trained blockchain developers who should be able assume the development roles for the project after 2 to 3 weeks of training and contributing to an increasing code base on github (https://github.com/Nifty-Row/)

4 months community engagement (webinars, meetups, competitions) for Nifty Row DAO should result in a change in the community membership from under 300 upwards to between 4000 to 5000

A higher user adoption rate of the Nifty Row NFT marketplace with user of 500 to 1000 per day within the first 3 months of launch.

An Increased number of Cardano transactions in Africa. This figure may be compared to other countries to determine the Marketplace and DAO's impact.

Mini conferences, symposiums online with Cardano international community and blockchain career orientation for each of the communities and across Africa/unsung regions.

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

Success Outcomes

--------------------

As we embark on these activities, the Nifty Row DAO will on-board and familiarize the local creative communities with Cardano's project catalyst.

The DAO will encourage local creatives subgroups to actively participate in community engagement activities like Webinars, NFT competitions, meetups, collaborations and submit proposals for appropriate funding in future creative fund and/or Catalyst Fund initiatives.

A community adopted feature complete NFT marketplace with support for Ada for minting, auctioning and bidding/buying NFTs.

Increased collaborations between Digital Artists communities with Physical artists communities.

Adoption of the DAO token by the creative community at large and also by token investors when an Ada powered token sale is launched in the future.

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

The proposal is a new proposal that has not previously been funded in Catalyst

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

No.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

SDG subgoals:

8.2 Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors

Key Performance Indicator (KPI):

8.1.1 Annual growth rate of real GDP per capita