Last updated a year ago
The evolution of the Cardano ecosystem and the project catalyst in the African region is moderate but is barely adopted in South Africa. Thus, it requires boosting.
Boost the adoption of Cardano and Project Catalyst through a grand outreach event for university students, developers, and business personnel in South Africa 🇿🇦.
This is the total amount allocated to Boosting Cardano In South Africa.
This is an improved version of our Fund 7 proposal (which received good rates and approval by the community but unfortunately didn't get funded) with regards to helpful advice received from Community Advisors. This time, we hope to get funded and implement the project successfully as we have reflected and provided answers to all relevant questions and suggestions in this draft.
Our solution is to host an appropriate outreach event where South African students, business personnel, and developers will feel welcome and learn about all they would need to know about Cardano and Catalyst on the basic level. Aside from education, participants will have the opportunity to interact and communicate with the tutors and themselves. With this initiative, we are focused on educating members on the following topics:
Proposal Structure
The solution will increase the number of South Africans interested in the growth of the Cardano Community. At the end of a successful implementation, there will be an increase in the number of catalyst participation, the quality of Project Catalyst projects coming through from the South African region, an increase in the number of Cardano Dev participants, and an increase in the number of individuals from South Africa, interested in blockchain.
Our main aim is to ensure that South Africans, especially university students, business personnel, developers, and government officials, are exposed to the accuracy of information revolving around blockchain, its capabilities, and most importantly, the opportunities it has for everyone. Hence, we will be required to host many more outreach events like this to achieve such a goal.
Roadmap
This would certainly not be the only outreach event our team seeks to host in South Africa, as the goal is to boost Cardano and Project Catalyst's adoption rates in South Africa through diversification. This means that we need to host more outreach events, workshops, hackathons, etc to ensure that the adoption rate of Cardano and Project Catalyst in South Africa is boosted upwards. With this being said, we plan to attain at least a 10% boost in the adoption rate per event. Thus, our roadmap looks like this;
1st to 58th-day post-funding; preparation for the event:
60th-day post-funding (November 30th hopefully):
We would demonstrate our ability to boost Cardano/Catalyst adoption in South Africa by hosting our grand outreach event.
61st to 70th-day post-funding:
Please take some time to enjoy some of the beautiful images in the attachment section of the proposal, confirming our experience in hosting outreach events successfully.
Please note that only one of our presenters lives within the skirts of Cape Town. The rest live on the outskirts and hence require a flight to safely get to the city centre for successful implementation. Hence, the cost for the flight is as follows:
Grand Total = 27,408 USD rounded to 27,410 USD (per Catalyst recommendation)
Kindly note that the costs above were not assumed but were determined by a series of research in which engagements with agencies who are involved in providing these services in South Africa was a key method. Prices may seem to be high, but that's due to the level of inflation happening around Africa and South Africa specifically.
This project is backed by a collaborative effort from a team with a wealth of cultural and technical experience in the Cardano community as well as in Africa. All team members are very active in Catalyst, and community groups across our ecosystem. They are a diverse bunch united by the Promise of Cardano:
Wada: Cardano-based community network of 25+ professionals focused on connecting the world to Africa using blockchain and AI. 20+ funded proposals with strong partnerships within the Catalyst ecosystem. A trusted source for both African-based projects and wider ecosystem contributions.
Role: Overseer
The Catalyst School: The Catalyst School is a place created to enhance the impact of Catalyst as a whole by improving the contribution of all its different players and roles. We onboard new members and help improve their skills along the way, in any way they decide to engage with Catalyst: as a proposer, a Community Advisor, a Veteran Community Advisor, or without any specific role within the process.
Role: Overseer
Kaelo Lentsoe: Blockchain Education Network Ambassador for South Africa - [introducing students to the blockchain education network portal, inviting them to workshops, and mentoring them]. Wada country leads South Africa.
Role: Project management and a presenter on Blockchain(General).
Telegram: @KaeloLentsoe
Email: lentsoekaelo@protonmail.com
Nana Safo: University Ambassador for Wada and the Blockchain Education Network (BEN) in Ghana, Co-proposer and Community Ambassador for Landano (A Catalyst funded project), Proposer and Project Lead for Cardano Recycling DApp (A Catalyst funded project), Successful (Community Advisor (now Proposal Assessor) since Fund 4, Veteran Community Advisor (now veteran Proposal Assessor) since Fund 5, Proposal mentor since Fund 6, Challenge Team lead since Fund 7, Co-proposer since Fund 6, Proposer since Fund 7), and a passionate Cardano advocate since 2020.
Role: Project management and a presenter on Cardano Project Catalyst.
Telegram: @Nana_Safo_01
Discord: Nana Safo#6233
Email: safonanakwadwo2a1@gmail.com
Richmond Oppong: Richmond is a graphic designer with over 10 years of experience in logo designs, print and poster designs, business card designs, 3D signage, and advertising and marketing. He holds a Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design from Takoradi Polytechnic, Takoradi-Ghana. Richmond is a blockchain enthusiast and is actively part of the Cardano project catalyst community. He was a Community Advisor in Catalyst funds 5 to 8, was a Veteran Community Advisor in fund 8 and a Catalyst Challenge Team member for ‘Scale-UP Cardano’s Community Hubs’ challenge settings for fund 8. He is also an expert in education on creating and manipulating Cardano ADA wallets and staking.
Role: Design and Presenter (Introduction to Cardano Wallets)
Twitter: @cardanoholious
Email: holious45@gmail.com
Bernard Sibanda: BSC Computing, BTech Education, MCP, Plutus Pioneer.
Founder of 3 companies namely: Tobb Technologies (IT Consulting) South Africa (https://tobb.co.za), Women In Move Solutions(Blockchain and IT - 4IR) South Africa(https://wims.io) and ABL Tech Pty Ltd (Australian IT Consulting) Australia (https://abltech.com.au).
Software developer and Architect (14+ years), Educator(+20 years). UNISA School of computing voluntary curricula advisor member.
Cardano Plutus Pioneer student and promoter 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cohorts(2021-Current), Member of Wada and Cardano (since 2021).
Successfully established and maintained an international community(WIMS-Cardano) with professional(teachers, nurses, developers, business people)membership from SADC countries, Ghana, Nigeria, Norway, and Australia.
Established and successfully maintained WIMS-Cardano telegram(80+ members), WhatsApp (40 members) with these platforms:
https://github.com/wimsio
Role: Presenter (Cardano) and (Cardano Dev Tools)
Discord: wims#5274
Telegram: @WIMS2020
LinkedIn: bernard-sibanda-04832817
Email: cto@wims.io
Note: Collectively, the above team, forms the organizing team to ensure successful implementation.
Yes, the project needs to be self-sustainable, and the Cardano Project Catalyst is the source of funds that will make the iteration of this project successful. The nature of the project, including its mission and vision, is to raise awareness by educating and ensuring the adoption rate of Cardano in South Africa is boosted.
For the project to be self-sustainable, it's going to need a few rounds of funding to expand and build the proper foundation for its growth.
The community can basically track the progress of this project through the Project Catalyst Monthly Reporting Sheet and the Wada YouTube channel, where the recorded version of the grand event will be published.
Also, all relevant resources that are shareable would be shared with the community via the various community channels on Discord and Telegram.
Bonus: After a successful implementation, we may host a Twitter Space to discuss sort of what the experience has been like for all team members, and this would definitely be open to all to come and join us to celebrate the success!
Key Metrics
Having a strong network of university students, developers, business personnel, and government officials from South Africa where ideas are explored while educating them about Project Catalyst and helping them to engage with the Cardano ecosystem by becoming Community Advisors and submitting highly reviewed Catalyst Proposals.
At the end of 3 months;
This is a new proposal, in addition to the various outreach events hosted by Wada and The Catalyst School. Upon successful implementation, the success attained is going to encourage the setting up of a Blockchain hub by Wada in South Africa to attract more interest.
Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
NB: Monthly reporting was deprecated from January 2024 and replaced fully by the Milestones Program framework. Learn more here
The project will be supported and mentored by Catalyst School and Wada with the goal of boosting the Cardano adoption rate in South Africa.
The beautiful images in the attachment section of the proposal confirm our experience and past successes in terms of events and outreaches.