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[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Introduction

Following the successful funding of our Fund 8 proposal- a project that focuses on advocacy for the adoption of blockchain in Ghana, I am convinced that spearheading and facilitating knowledge acquisition on blockchain and onboarding of students into the cardano ecosystem will provide the foundation to scale up the growth of Cardano in Africa and also make Cardano a formidable force in the blockchain space in Africa.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

As part of our awareness creation on the blockchain technology in Africa and our value addition to the Cardano community, we intend to introduce an educational outreach program that will provide the platform to educate the student communities in Ghana on blockchain technology and also facilitate on-boarding of the student community in Ghana into the cardano ecosystem. In this regard, we will partner with YAFO, a community with vast experience in the blockchain ecosystem to introduce a quarterly program dubbed, opportunity summit, a program that will fall under the auspices of the young Africa for opportunities, a nonprofit organization with the aim of enabling young Africans, especially students and entrepreneurs to identify and explore the opportunities that are available to them in the advent of the adoption of blockchain in various industries. The blockchain industry, though an emerging technology, it has a lot of potential and opportunities for students, entrepreneurs and more especially the African community in helping curb the unemployment deficits. Africa has a large population with myriad of challenges that could be addressed by blockchain technology, therefore, it’s our conviction that, awareness creation and the on-boarding of students at the grass root level through education would be a significant starting point for the early adoption of the cardano blockchain technology by individuals and businesses, with the aim helping them provide solutions that meets local expectations. In Africa, the cardano blockchain network hasn’t gain much attention in spite of its huge potential and the significant impact it could make in the life of many startups, developers and the continent at large, in terms of providing real time solutions that addresses the challenges that confront the continent. Even though there have been major steps in enhancing the growth of the cardano ecosystem in Ghana, we believe more could be done.

STRATEGY FOR IMPLEMENTATION

The plan is to organise two set of events, an in person event and an online event. The first part of the initiative will be the in person event. However, in the case of the in person event, there will be an online access to the program. The expectation is that, by the in person event, we’ll establish a campus Cardano representatives. With this initiative, we are focused on educating students on the following topics for the next 3 month in two separate events after funding has been approved:

• Introduction to History of money and blockchain
• Cardano blockchain
• Creation of Cardano wallet
• Cardano staking
• Cardano project catalyst and the various roles.

The key to the success of this project is to partner with existing student communities and associations in UPSA that will help us get a foot in the door. We then hope that the value proposition of blockchain of the cardano network will be enough to make them want to learn more. We have already established relationships with a few associations in the university and are discussing details for the events. Taking into account the audience for our program, we will have to create interesting and insightful content with this specific targets in mind. After catching their initial interests at our events, we need to continue to provide opportunities to keep them actively engaged in the cardano community and learn more about the community. Allowing everyone to participate to the best of their ability, at whatever level they are starting from.

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

The University of Professional studies hosts a population of around 14000 students, providing them with both academic and professional higher education in Ghana. It remains the only public institution with the mandate to offer both academic degrees and provide tuition for business professional qualification. Hence, the opportunity summit will be a first step among many strategies to fully facilitate the introduction of blockchain technology to the whole student populace and also onboard them onto the cardano network. Almost a large number of the students are not only new to the blockchain technology, but haven’t also developed a niche for themselves that will enable them explore the blockchain ecosystem. Therefore, a platform that could introduce students to the blockchain ecosystem will not only foster the awareness creation of blockchain among the students but will also enhance the growth of the Cardano blockchain community in Ghana. Among the things we intend to do is to organize two set of events quarterly in each University in Ghana, with the University of Professional Studies as the starting point. This event will be both in person and online based for the next 3 month after funding for the project has been approved. Additionally, we’ll create a WhatsApp, telegram and YouTube channels to share learning materials and updates on our events and the Cardano network and guidelines on becoming a PA and a developer. The expectation here is to establish a student support base among the student populace with interest in the cardano ecosystem in each University and eventually have a cardano campus team in each university. Therefore, the opportunity summit will be an on-boarding and an awareness creation platform for students new to the Cardano blockchain Network, highlighting its potentials and the opportunities to them. Ultimately, as part of our long-term vision, we intend to;

• Create more awareness on the cardano blockchain technology, its potential and opportunities among students in the various Universities in Ghana.

• Facilitate the onboarding of students into the Cardano blockchain community as PAs, VPAs, developers and voters.

• Provide the platform for enhancing and fostering innovative ideas that will contribute value to the Cardano ecosystem and facilitate the adoption of the Cardano blockchain by individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses in the Ghanaian community.

• More importantly, our outreach events are part of a bigger plan to establish an active Cardano community in the various Universities in Ghana. The commencement of this long-term goal will focus on the student communities in the country, with the University of Professional Studies being our starting point.

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

Attendance: One of the main challenge is the difficulty in marketing the program to our target audiences that would allow more people to learn about the blockchain technology. To address this challenge, we’ll collaborate with departments, clubs and associations in the University of Professional studies to promote event through their social media channels.

Incentives: the general lack of incentive for students to participate in events could be another challenge. We have decided to provide snacks and small amount of cardano at our in person event as an incentive and also introduce them to the community advisory role. This would be a key marketing strategy to incite the interest of the students for our event.

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

TIMELINES

The goal is to boost the presence of the Cardano blockchain in Africa, facilitate and promote more innovative ideas in the Cardano ecosystem to enable the adoption of blockchain in Ghana through diversification. By this, we’ll host two set of events, an in person event and an online event, with the expectation of ensuring a faster adoption rate of the Cardano Network in Ghana and Africa at large. With this being said, we plan to carry out this initiative in phases upon receiving funding for the project. Thus, our roadmap looks like this;

1) Phase 1

Planning, team setup & tooling phase – 1 week after funding (September)

• Setup of team members
• Communication of detailed plan and activities.
• Assigning roles and responsibilities
• Create social media channels.

2) Phase 2  

Reservations — 2 week post funding (September)

• Reservation of event space
• Reservation of catering service-
• Reservation of event logistics
• Assigning a date for the events.

3.) Phase 3

Marketing and Advertisement — 3 weeks (September to October)

• Ad Campaigns: both online and offline channels
• Hosting of mini-outreach across departments to create awareness
• Marketing outreach to the Associations and societies in the university.
• Use of Eventbrite to record potential attendees
• 3-tier Incentive: Event Attendance and wallet creation for cardano.

4.) Phase 4

 First campus event –mid October

·       The event will be both in person and an online.

5.) Post-Event – 1 weeks

·       Conduct an online survey to gather suggestions from event attendees as to what could be improved in subsequent events to be hosted and as well what they seek to do with the knowledge gained. This survey will be sampled from the attendees in our social media platforms.

 6.) Second campus event –Last week in November :

 The second phase of our event will be solely online based.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

BUDGET BREAKDOWN

The total budget for this project is designed for two separate events. Therefore an amount of $3950 will be required. The total amount has a budget breakdown as given below;

• Team Cost (materials, logistics, coordinators and organizations) —$500 (375 per event)

• Event space—$550

• Refreshment—$300

• Guest fee —$900 for 2 speakers ($225 per speaker –for 2 events)

• Marketing & Advertisement (Ads, banners, Outreach, Face-to-Face Invitations) – $750($350 per event)

•  Participant’s Incentive package— $700 ( $350per event)

•   Miscellaneous— $250

• Total —$3950

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

INNOCENT NORVINU

He has a finance background, acting as a financial and risk compliance analyst at Unique step Microfinance Limited, a graduate of the University of Professional studies Accra, with a BSc (Hon) in Banking and finance and also occupies the position of risk and compliance officer at center for coin Liberty—a cryptocurrency advocacy firm. A Fund 7 and Fund 8 community Advisor, a proposer with an already funded project in Fund 8 and also an active member and participants of WADA.

BARBARA OFOSU

Barbara Ofosu is a BSc Psychology graduate of the University of Cape Coast. She has served as a member of the fundraising team for the Institute for Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI-Ghana) and through her efforts at the University of Cape Coast chapter of Young Africans for Opportunities was established where she served as the President. She has successfully built collaboration with other organizations and non-government organizations such as the International Youth Fellowship, National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS-UCC) and Impart Foundation to advance the principles of a free society through on-campus programs. She has successfully completed an ambassador course and has participated in the Young Leadership Colloquium and the African Journalists for Economic Opportunity Training (AJEOT). She is a student at the Atlas Leadership Academy, USA. She is currently the Africa Campus.

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

Yes we will. The main focus of the project is to serve as a entry point of university students into the Cardano community. The intention is to cover all university in Ghana. Hence, we intend to return for additional funding for the next phase of this initiative.

[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?

Milestone

The summit will leverage on the expertise of the cardano community members in the blockchain space by our partnership with community members for a successful event. And at the end of a successful implementation of this project, we’ll measure the success of this event by;

·       The number of attendees

·       The number of students on boarded

·       Number of students willing to be campus representatives.

·       The number of new cardano wallet account created.

·       The number of students with great ideas who will be mentored and trained.

Key Metrics

Based on these key performance indicators, we anticipate that, a successful implementation of the project will help achieve the following milestones;

·       At least 100 attendees.

·       at least 50 active people on boarded into the Cardano community

·       Create Cardano wallet accounts for at least 50 students.

·       Create a cardano social media community (WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube) with 50 active followers.

·        Mentor and assist at least 2 entrepreneurs and developers to access grant.

·       Mentor and train at least 3 individuals with great ideas and proposals to help impact lives.

As indicated above, the targets for each indicator would be adjusted in our next event based on the feedback from this event. As part of our transparency to the cardano community, we would make these report available to the cardano social media channels (telegram and discord) for their perusal. Additionally, we would also make the report available on the official social media channels and our online pages.  

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

Main success    

Ultimately, as part of our long term vision, we intend to;

·       Create more awareness on the cardano blockchain technology, its potential and opportunities.

·       Facilitate the onboarding of students into the Cardano blockchain community as PAs and developers in the universities in Ghana.

·       Enhance and foster innovative ideas that will contribute value to the Cardano ecosystem and facilitate the adoption of the Cardano blockchain by individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses in the Ghanaian community.

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

Entirely new.