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https://archive.devcon.org/archive/watch/6/borderless-africa-a-new-narrative/
If Ethereum is a digital nation, millions of Africans will flock in masses to become citizens. Why? A fair chance to participate in an open borderless economy, and ultimately self-determination. Web3 is unleashing a generation of African talent trapped within the confines of the old gated economy. A new narrative places Africa differently through the Web3 lens. Why should Ethereum builders take African talent and markets seriously? Where are low hanging fruits for win-win scenarios?
Speaker(s): Yoseph Ayele
Skill level: Beginner
Track: Opportunity & Global Impact
Keywords: Africa,borderless,permissionless
Follow us: https://twitter.com/efdevcon, https://twitter.com/ethereum
Learn more about devcon: https://www.devcon.org/
Learn more about ethereum: https://ethereum.org/
Devcon is the Ethereum conference for developers, researchers, thinkers, and makers.
Devcon 6 was held in Bogotá, Colombia on Oct 11 - 14, 2022.
Devcon is organized and presented by the Ethereum Foundation, with the support of our sponsors. To find out more, please visit https://ethereum.foundation/
A
A
Defcon
how's
everybody
doing
today
So
today
we're
going
to
talk
about
Africa
part
of
the
world
that
we
all
know
but
oftentimes
overlooked.
But
before
we
start
I
want
to
ask
you
how
many
of
you
here
are
from
Africa
awesome?
How
many
of
you
have
been
to
the
continent
before
how
many
of
you
have
worked
with
people
collaborated
invested
in
how
many
of
you
are
Africa
curious,
awesome.
So
we're
here
to
talk
about,
you
know
a
beautiful
continent.
That
means
a
lot
to
me.
A
little
bit
about
myself.
A
I'm
from
Ethiopia
grew
up
in
Kenya
and
Tanzania
lived
in
Nigeria
and
when
I
was
growing
up.
The
predominant
narrative
is
that
you
are
at
the
bottom
of
the
pyramid,
and
if
you
want
to
do
big
things
in
the
world,
you
got
to
leave
the
best
building
was
the
airport.
The
best
road
was
the
road
to
the
airport,
and
so
I
followed
that
narrative
move
to
the
West.
For
about
eight
years.
A
I
worked
in
experimenting
with
immigration
systems
to
find
holes
within
the
Gated
world
so
that
we
can
have
a
Global
Talent
base
and
a
borderless
vision
and
then
I
discovered,
web3
and
where
web3
made
sense
to
me,
was
actually
through
the
Africa
lens
and
that's
a
vision
I
want
to
share
with
you
today,
so
the
predominant
narrative
we've
been
using
so
far
is
that
African
needs
crypto
right.
Let's
Bank
down
banked,
that's
been
the
narrative
from
day
one.
Let's
pull
people
out
of
poverty:
let's
develop
I
develop
a
nation.
A
Let's
make
a
real
impact,
let's
fight
corruption
and
create
Financial
inclusion
and
there's
a
lot
of
sort
of
moral
based
narratives
that
we've
been
using
so
far
in
all
of
these
make
a
lot
of
sense.
But
there's
a
different
narrative
I
think
it's
important
for
us
to
really
explore,
and
that
is
what,
if
it
is
actually
web
free
that
needs
Africa
to
fulfill
its
full
potential
and
for
the
last
for
the
last
10
years,
plus
we've
been
talking
about
Mass
adoption.
A
We've
been
talking
about
bringing
in
a
billion
people
into
this
space
to
get
people
who
actually
use
the
technologies
that
we're
building
for
daily
things
that
people
rely
on.
We
want
web3
to
be
plan,
a
not
plan,
B
and
I.
Believe
that's
where
Africa
plays
a
role
and
that's
the
narrative
that
we're
going
to
unpack
today,
but
before
we
do
that,
I
want
to
kind
of
do
a
bit
of
a
high
level
overview
around
the
demographics
and
really
understand
where
the
continent
is
right.
A
A
The
other
part
of
it
is
that
we're
growing,
really
really
really
fast
by
2050
we're
expected
to
be
almost
2.8
billion
people
50
of
that
population
is
concentrated
in
just
seven
countries
and
we're
going
to
expect
about
a
third
of
the
world's
young
people
are
going
to
be
in
Africa
just
to
put
that
in
perspective.
Just
in
the
next
18
years,
there's
going
to
be
twice
as
many
young
people
in
Africa,
as
in
China,
50
more
than
in
India
and
three
times
as
many
young
people
in
Africa
as
Europe
and
the
US
combined.
A
The
other
bit
is
around
the
economy,
and
this
is
a
mixed
image
here.
So
about
457
million
sub-Saharan
Africans
actually
have
a
bank
account
and
370
million
adults.
Don't
there's
a
lot
of
statistics
around
unemployment
about
a
third
is
considered
unemployed,
but
I.
Believe
it's
a
big
bigger
number
than
that,
and
we
expect
about.
350
million
Africans
today
are
considered
middle
class
and
the
definition
of
middle
class
kind
of
varies
at
the
moment.
A
A
So
Africa
is
not
just
poor
population
that
the
world
needs
to
go,
save
it's
population
made
of
people
who
actually
have
an
ability
to
create
and
spend
the
other
part
of
the
narrative,
like
understanding,
is
around
technology,
and
this
is
also
very
mixed.
We
have
590
million
Africans
who
have
accessed
the
internet.
A
lot
of
that
is
coming
from
Mobile
use
and
we're
expecting
six
percent
mobile
adoption
year
on
over
year
and
the
other
bit
is
mobile.
A
Crypto
we
have
last
last
year,
105
billion
dollars
transacted,
which
is
a
very
small
amount
of
the
global
total
volume
transacted.
It
makes
about
two
percent,
but
we're
seeing
a
thousand
two
hundred
percent
growth
and
kucoin
expects
2500
growth
of
users
since
last
year,
but
the
interesting
bit
here
is
actually
the
majority
of
it.
A
88
of
the
money
that's
transacted
is
for
cross-border
transfers
and
a
lot
of
the
transfers
are
happening
at
a
peer-to-peer
level
and
under
one
thousand
dollar
transaction
makes
up
a
huge
part
of
the
volume
so
we're
seeing
a
lot
of
small
retail
users
getting
into
crypto
there's
a
new
exchange,
that's
launching
soon
and
they
haven't
even
launched
it.
It's
been
a
few
months
since
they
put
this
out,
but
they
already
have
2.3
million
people
on
the
wait
list
for
the
download.
A
So
if
you're
thinking
about
volume
of
people
getting
into
this
space,
there's
a
lot
of
that
happening
in
Africa,
but
the
interesting
bit
is
the
biggest
entry
point
and
the
biggest
part
of
the
conversation.
There
is
speculation
and
gambling
and
there
are
big
events,
bigger
events
than
Defcon
that
are
happening
very
regularly
to
get
people
onboarded,
but
it's
primarily
around
you
know,
trading
and
just
making
quick
bugs,
but
there's
a
huge
population.
That's
actually
curious
about
what
it
means
to
work
in
this
space.
A
A
If
you
see
the
world
as
a
food
chain,
Africa
is
really
at
the
bottom
of
that
food
chain
and
the
current
geopolitical
economic
structures
lock
the
continent
in
that
position,
and
so
basically,
the
only
option
many
people
have
to
get
out
of
there
to
get
into
this
place
of
emancipation
is
through
web3.
Let
me
give
you
a
few
examples
of
why
this
current
Paradigm
is
not
working.
First,
we
actually
don't
control
our
money.
40
out
of
54
African
countries
prints
the
money
overseas.
A
It
is
England
Germany
and
France
that
do
most
of
it
and
they
say
six
percent
of
the
entire
currency.
That's
been
printed
as
a
fee,
and
there
are
a
lot
of
stories
about
money
being
lost
in
shipments
and
all
of
that,
that's
not
only
the
part
of
the
equation,
so
in
2011
the
United
Kingdom
actually
withheld
about
a
billion
pounds
of
money
that
was
supposed
to
be
shipped
to
Libya.
For
political
reasons,
so
once
that
president
has
been
said,
you
actually
don't
control
your
money.
A
A
How
many
of
us
have
heard
of
the
Central
African
Republic
that
made
Bitcoin
part
of
a
legal
tender
that
was
an
act
of
desperation,
basically
saying
hey?
If
we
don't
control
our
money,
we
have
nothing
to
lose.
Global
trade
is
very
expensive
and
pretty
much
impossible.
This
huge
currency
devaluation
in
many
African
countries
and
there's
chronic
Forex
shortage.
Just
to
give
you
an
example,
just
in
Nigeria
and
Ethiopia
in
Nigeria,
there's
500
a
month
limit
of
how
many
dollars
you
can
get
out
on
a
monthly
basis
in
Ethiopia.
A
We
pay
about
10,
Bank
fees,
to
transfer
any
money
in
and
out
of
the
continent
and
sadly,
as
a
continent,
only
15
percent
of
our
trade
is
within
ourselves.
The
rest
is
with
the
rest
of
the
world
and
that's
a
lot
of
like
trade
issues
and
all
of
that,
and
we
spent
about
five
to
ten
billion
dollars
in
Swift
fees,
which
is
massive,
and
many
people
are
locked
out
of
web
to
economy
because
they
don't
have
a
credit
card
when
I
was
in
Ethiopia.
A
Applying
for
college
I
had
to
borrow
a
credit
card
from
people
to
actually
submit
applications,
and
so
many
people
still
don't
have
international
credit
cards,
and
because
of
that
now
the
world
will
not
take
African
money.
Bequil
cannot
participate
in
the
global
economy.
That
way
the
world
is
gathered
for
Africans
borders
are
closed
for
Africans.
There's
supposed
to
be
so
many
Builders
there
was.
There
were
planned
to
be
here.
They
couldn't
get
visas
to
be
here.
A
African
passports
are
the
worst
in
the
world
to
carry
around
when
I
was
traveling
around
in
my
Ethiopian
passport,
I
used
to
wear
a
big
cross
on
my
neck,
just
so
that
border
control
doesn't
confuse
me
with
the
terrorist,
and
you
talk
to
many
Africans
who
are
traveling
around
the
world.
There's
this
thing
called
immigrant
anxiety.
A
So
I
think
that's
something.
We've
got
to
change
now.
There
are
being
small
steps
to
improve
this
Paradigm.
There's
a
pan-african
single
trade
zone,
that's
developing
their
internal
Payment
Systems
banks
are
creating
in
order
to
reduce
dependence
on
foreign
currencies
and
their
cbdc
is
growing
like
in
naira,
but
these
are
very
small
steps
now.
My
biggest
issue
with
some
of
this
is
that,
even
though
we're
trying
here
that
we're
not
the
institutions
are
not
really
set
up
to
meet
the
needs
of
the
young
people,
you
go
and
meet
a
lot
of
young
people.
A
They're
very
hungry,
they're
driven
they
want
to
thrive,
they
don't
want
to
just
survive.
They
want
to
have
a
piece
of
this
world
just
like
the
rest
of
us.
They
want
to
do
real
things.
They
want
to
maximize
their
creative
potential
and
basically
institutions,
as
we
know
them
are
not
set
up
to
meet
that
need.
A
A
To
me,
what
that
means
is
actually
emancipation
path
to
self-determination,
and
when
I
talked
to
a
lot
of
young
people
on
the
continent,
they
say
wait
a
minute
you
can
participate
in
a
global
economy.
No
one
really
cares
who
you
are
where
you're
from
you
can
work,
you
can
earn
Global
income
by
paying
local
salary.
You
can
collaborate
with
people
from
all
over
the
world.
You
can
build
communities,
you
can
own
part
of
the
internet.
A
A
So
I
want
to
give
you
a
few
examples
of
what
this
borderless
economy
could
look
like.
One
of
the
areas
is
Talent
I'll
give
you
a
few
stories
and
examples
of
people
I've
been
meeting
recently.
One
of
them
is
Ken
he's
a
student
at
Lagos
University.
The
school
has
been
in
huge
strikes
so
far
and
he
got
into
crypto
through
the
blockchain
association
in
the
university,
and
then
he
kind
of
started
figuring
the
space
out
in
within
one
year.
A
So
no
one
even
knows
he's
a
Kenyan
guy.
There's
a
lady
called
Sherry
she's,
a
photographer
in
Kenya
as
well
and
she's,
been
struggling
to
feed
herself
and
look
after
herself,
and
she
discovered
nft
space.
She
locked
herself
up
in
her
room
learned.
The
whole
space
in
three
days
started:
minting
nfts,
using
her
photography
and
he's
been
earning
real
income
and
is
now
building
community
of
bringing
other
nft
artists
into
this
space.
A
These
are
just
very
few
examples,
and
there
are
so
many
many
more
self-taught
Africans
who
are
getting
themselves
into
this
space
working,
creating
participating.
Many
of
us
know
African
culture
all
over
the
world,
but
it's
just
now
that
African
creators
are
being
able
to
capture
part
of
the
value
from
the
things
that
they're
building
another
area.
That's
really
interesting
is
trust.
A
That
is
where
you
can
actually
build
a
lot
of
tourist
infrastructures
from
the
ground
up.
Let's
look
at
Finance,
we
talked
about
access
to
Forex
right
earlier
on,
so
actually
go
to
many
African
countries.
You
can
access
stable
coins,
a
lot
easier
and
faster.
You
can
access
dollars,
and
so
many
people
are
bypassing
Banks
using
stable
coins
now
think
about
the
global
remittance
industry.
That
is
massive,
and
that
is
really
huge
and
that's
where
actually,
we
can
build
borderless
finance
and
really
accelerate
the
growth
and
development
of
many
communities
there.
A
A
That's
really
really
Sharky
and
really
terrible.
So
this
is
the
space
is
huge
to
transform
this
area,
and
these
are
just
very
few
examples
and
there
are
so
many
more
ways
that
this
borderless
economy
bottle
of
society
is
manifesting
in
the
continent
and
we
should
expect
basically
more
Africans
getting
to
this
space
in
masses
to
work
and
build,
develop
and
consume.
A
A
We
want
this
space
to
be
plan,
a
not
a
plan
B
when
we're
sitting
in
our
cushy
chairs
and
kind
of
comfortable
environments
where
the
system
is
kind
of
working
for
us,
but
we
want
to
improve
it.
It's
a
lot
harder
to
reach
Mass
adoption,
but
when
you're
going
to
places
where
it's
a
very
low
starting
point,
then
actually
you
have
huge
momentum,
huge
growth,
huge
adoption,
huge
creation
that
can
happen
in
this
environment.
So
there's
so
many
ways
to
build
this
and
we
have
a
very
low
starting
point.
A
What
are
something
on
the
mountains
we
can
climb
in
this
space?
There's
a
lot
to
do.
I'll
share
with
you.
Some
of
the
mountains
that
I
feel
inspired
and
motivated
to
climb.
First
is
education,
and
we
talk
about
education
in
so
many
ways,
there's
so
many
protocols
and
layer
ones
from
the
continent
talking
about
education,
but
actually
it's
marketing
to
onboard
a
lot
of
people
to
use
it.
Let's
talk
about
education,
starting
from
a
place
of
values,
and
why
is
this
important?
A
Well,
many
people
and
many
young
people
in
Africa
get
into
crypto
primarily
through
speculation
and
they're.
Actually
their
Learning
Journey
is
determined
by
the
algorithms
of
Facebook
and
Twitter
and
sorry
YouTube
and
Twitter.
So
if
you
land
on
some
coin,
Shilling
YouTube
page
everything
else,
you
keep,
learning
is
going
to
be
very
much
related
to
that.
So
it's
quite
narrow
way
of
entry,
point
and
I
think
this
needs
to
be
a
lot
of
work
of
actually
embedding.
Why
are
we
here?
A
Why
is
this
space
actually
made
for
them,
and
we
gotta
create
infrastructures
for
people
to
learn
to
learn
as
I
talked
about?
There
are
a
lot
of
people
getting
into
the
space
on
their
own,
but
how
do
we
really
accelerate
that
to
hundreds
and
millions
of
people
to
get
into
this
space
and
then
developing
actual
core
skill
sets
so
that
people
can
come
and
work
in
this
space
that
is
already
happening,
but
I
think
we
can
really
do
a
lot
to
accelerate
that
space.
A
A
The
last
bit
is
building
community
and
I'm
talking
about
Community
with
the
principles
and
values
of
community.
That
really
matters,
because
there's
a
lot
of
sort
of
extractive
community
conversation
that
is
happening
around
the
continent,
which
is
just
trying
to
get
as
many
people
to
sign
up
get
big
user
base
get.
You
know
large
adoption
and
you
know
that's
fine,
but
if
you
actually
many
protocols
go
there
with
the
spirit
of
extraction.
What
you
end
up
doing
is
raising
a
generation
of
mercenaries.
A
So
that's
to
me,
like
that's
really
what
feels
extremely
exciting
and
if
any
of
these
mountains
you're
finding
exciting
less
Jam.
If
you're
thinking
about
climbing
other
mountains,
let's
figure
out
how
to
support
that
work
and
accelerate
your
journey
because,
at
the
end
of
the
day,
I
think
Africa
will
have
a
lot
more
to
contribute
to
this
Webster
movement
and
we're
here
dreaming
thinking,
building
and
creating.
But
if
we
want
to
actually
this
infrastructure
to
be
used
on
a
daily
basis,
doesn't
matter
if
it's
a
bull
market
or
a
bear
Market.