• Thursday, March 28, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

P-Square, Yemi Alade, Grace Charis & Mr. Leo unveiled as first Bantu Blockchain brand ambassadors

P-Square, Yemi Alade, Grace Charis & Mr. Leo unveiled as first Bantu Blockchain brand ambassadors

The Bantu Blockchain Foundation on Friday 21st January 21, 2022, unveiled its first brand influencers at the Bantu Xpansion programme that was held in Lagos, signaling a landmark moment for the promotion of the blockchain ecosystem on the continent.

The Bantu Xpansion initiative, which first officially launched in Ghana on January 15, 2022, is an extension of the efforts put together by the Bantu Blockchain Foundation, to establish its presence across Africa, in a bid to impact the continent. Initially launched in Lagos back in December 2020, Bantu accomplished a remarkable amount of milestones accentuated by 3 major community hangouts in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt in the year 2021.

In attendance at the event were Bantu Blockchain Foundation ambassadors and African entertainers including; P-Square, Yemi Alade, Grace Charis and Mr. Leo were unveiled.

Other dignitaries include; Ernest Mbenkum, CEO/founder, Bantu Blockchain Foundation, Victor Akoma-Philips, COO/co-founder, Bantu Blockchain Foundation, Ada Irikefe, senior advisor to Bantu Blockchain Foundation, Chimezie Chuta, founder, Blockchain Nigeria User Group, Kosemani Olami, CEO, BotMeCash, Deji Owonubi, CEO of Convexity, Abimbiola Owoeye, country lead at Dell Technologies, Nigeria, and Anthony Shishler, investment director at Sage Grey Finance Limited.

Read also: Africa led blockchain ecosystem, Bantu, expands across Africa

Speaking at the launch, Mbenkum said that the overall aim of the initiative is to pilot Africa’s economic evolution. “This is the beginning of something incredible. My team members believe in the creative ideas and transformative perspectives that I had for a long time. “After a period of building and establishing a community in Nigeria we decided to kick off our 2022 expansion phase with Ghana. As you can imagine, Ghana was the first country to achieve colonial Independence in Africa. When you look at our logo, the Adinkra symbol shaped like an X is a Ghanaian symbol meaning Independence. And freedom comes with responsibility. Underneath that symbol is the word Bantu. Bantu means people of humanity. So, we are empowering humanity.”

Sharing on the Bantu Xpansion vision for Africa, the CEO/founder of Bantu Blockchain Foundation said, “In the era of the 4th industrial revolution, Africa can no longer afford to be the last. We have come of age, and we are growing exponentially. We have the largest and youngest demographic in the world, and we have the most technology-literate youths in our ecosystem. No other place was better than to start this in Nigeria, and since we had the launch in December 2020 we have grown in leaps and bounds. I believe very strongly that Africa is not going to be saved by politics or traditional economics; it is going to be empowered and saved by technology and entertainment. This technology revolution is being led by amazing people who have worked selflessly and tirelessly for over a year.” Thanks to the hard work of an all star team of Africans, the Bantu Blockchain Ecosystem aggregates several services on the blockchain network, featuring easy to adopt tools like the ecosystem BantuPay wallet, a network dashboard, a blockchain explorer (an analytic search engine), a ‘laboratory’ for developers, a community forum, as well as a one click digital token generator.

Blockchain is a technological innovation with a heavily decentralized format that allows one to store and manage data securely. It ensures the fidelity of data stored, without the need of a third party. They are best known for their role in the cryptoverse, helping to maintain a secure and decentralized record of transactions. With the rate of adoption growing, Africa can benefit from the use of blockchain technology to facilitate cross-border transactions, which will help reduce the high cost of remittances, enable access to financial services, ensure privacy, create jobs, unlock liquid from illiquid assets, improve the business environment and foster healthy competition, among others.