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Blockchain for the unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa: Our CEO in the latest episode of Blockchain Bit

Africa is a hotbed for innovation in the digital payment and mobile money space. The vast presence of mobile devices and a large population of unbanked people have created a suitable environment for speedier development of mobile money and other digital financial services. 

Wakandi is one of the companies working in Africa with a vision for a more inclusive society. Harnessing blockchain’s speed and security, we offer an infrastructure that can be a go-to solution for banks, payment service providers, and telecom companies (MNOs) to build financial services. 

Talking further about blockchain and how it can help bank the unbanked in Africa, Espen Kvelland, CEO, Wakandi Group AS was invited by Ana Paula Picasso in one of the latest episodes of Blockchain Bit. There he talked about Wakandi’s idea to change the way African societies handle money and money transfers.

Listen to the complete podcast on Spotify

DLT, payments, and the unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa

The episode circled two key discussion points –

  1. The general idea of using blockchain and key considerations of public and private blockchains.
  2. Using blockchain to build payments solutions for the unbanked in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The chat began with differentiation between public and private blockchains and why Wakandi decided to work with a private blockchain. It continued with understanding Africa’s financial landscape and the importance of mobile money in many countries, including Tanzania, The Gambia, Ghana, and South Africa. Talking about mobile money, Espen talked about mobile technologies in the market (USSD) and how Android smartphones can change it. 

During the discussion, Espen also shared about the Credit Association Management System (CAMS), the first solution based on Wakandi’s infrastructure. The solution aims at informal financial groups (IFGs) to digitize their operations and make them secure and efficient.

Read more about CAMS here.

Sharing his experience about launching a financial product or a solution in an Africa country, he said, “It is easy to think that you have to go to Africa and make a revolution out of everything, but that’s not necessarily the easiest way of going live.”

Listen to the podcast and know about Wakandi’ journey from an idea to a scalable solution in Africa.  

About Blockchain Bit Podcast

Blockchain Bit is a popular podcast by Ana Paula Picasso talking about blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies. The podcast moves around different people working in the blockchain and their idea to change the world.