African countries and governments should embrace Blockchain technology across all industries; Telcos, Healthcare, Banks, Logistics, Hospitality, Supply Chain and others with real zeal because it has the capacity of jumpstarting their ailing economies. More than 26,000 blockchain projects were started in year 2016 alone, and even more than that number in 2017 and 2018 so far, according to Deloitte’s analysis. Several Billions of Dollars have been raised to prosecute these projects. The technology has huge capacity for;
- Cost Savings
- Dispute avoidance by use of Smart Contracts
- De-Duplication of Records
- Automation of Administrative Tasks
- And so much more…
Performing economies all over the world are run by successful SMEs led by Entrepreneurs. Below are the many areas you can play in the Blockchain industry (Fig1). Though I must say that Collaboration is key to running a successful Blockchain project.
Fig. 1
Let me paint a scenario here: A previous biometric national ID program launched in 2003 in Nigeria registered 37 million citizens but has since been abandoned. The banking system recently launched its own biometric identification program, the bank verification number (BVN), which is required to access all banking services. As at today, the BVN program had enrolled about 31million customers.
The fragmentation of IDs and associated multiple registrations is not just an inconvenience for citizens, but also a waste of public resources. This is a case of duplication of efforts as almost the same set of data about an individual is required by various service providers, from biometrics to background information; educational background to financial details, proof of residence to proof of ownership of properties and so much more. This is a friction in the system that Identity Verification and Management using Blockchain can easily resolve for the betterment of Nigerians. This will not only make our lives better but would also help governments manage the resources of their nations.
A little research I carried out last week showed that Nigeria had the second highest Bitcoin trading volume as at Dec. 2, 2017 after China (Fig 2). Africa’s numbers are high in crypto volume trading but owns less than 2% of the Trading Engines and the Exchanges. This fact provides the need for us to push for more Blockchain projects including cryptocurrency exchanges that has Africa and it’s intricacies at the core of their project.
We need to play and be at the forefront of Blockchain revolution to jumpstart our lagging economies in Africa.
Fig.2
I will be attending African Business Professionals and Entrepreneurs’ Bootcamp in Lagos – Nigeria this August powered by City Scope NG Academy and will be talking on the Topic: ‘The Emerging African Markets; Blockchain Technology’. We shall be discussing with a cross section of African Entrepreneurs, how Blockchain will revolutionise African Markets and change many industries for good. Details below.