Empowering African Youth with Bitcoin – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Alexandria, a citizen of Zimbabwe and a second-year business administration student at Liaoning Shuhua University in China.
Our mission is to become the largest Bitcoin community in Africa, using Bitcoin to guarantee the human rights of life, liberty and property. We aim to establish a self-sustaining Bitcoin community that can generate revenue while growing independently of external assistance. We believe that this is possible by delivering high-quality experiences based on well-researched knowledge of consumer safety regarding bitcoin and its protocol.
If we can consistently deliver high quality images and videos for marketing and training purposes, we can deliver the best educational Bitcoin content in Africa. Our video content will consist of reels, interviews, speeches, experiences and memes.
If done well, we can establish a niche in the African market for financial content creation. We are already creating content, and traveling further into the African continent than most have. We reach often ignored countries and people, capturing their stories and their beautiful destinations. We have noticed that there is a massive lack of native African Bitcoin communities and leaders. As a result, there is not much local content produced by local people in their own countries.
Image source: Author
“That’s the best way, how you can explain Bitcoin to a local person. Is it the local guys who tell you, that it came from your environment, from your culture, and that’s why Jacob from the Czech Republic has a YouTube channel with more than 90 thousand subscribers.” — Dusan Matuska of @AmityAge
“We have not asked for any inch of Europe, any square centimeter of that territory. So keep your England and let me keep my Zimbabwe. People must always come first in any process of sustainable development and let our Africans come first in the development of Africa. Not as puppets, not as beggars, but as sovereign people.” — Robert G. Mugabe
Currently, African-based Bitcoin projects appear to be primarily dependent on support from foreign individuals. With respect, this tends to cut off opportunities for Africans to participate and be influential in their own countries. This also reduces financial incentives for Africans and thus reduces the opportunities to understand Bitcoin. They can also hunt for Bitcoin jobs and when they fail to get them, they can write off bitcoin and the Bitcoin community. I have realized that there is a direct correlation between Bitcoin based employment and bitcoin adoption. This may very well be the main reason why it has been difficult to bring Bitcoin companies to Zimbabwe. However, in just three months I have managed to bring in four organizations that want to invest in our education and the development of our local communities.
“Let our Africans come first in the development of Africa.” — Robert G. Mugabe
It is worth mentioning that foreigners may not understand our struggles as well as we do. They may not be able to communicate with us as effectively as we do with each other. It is also true that they may only come to Africa a few times a year while we are always here.
A typical foreigner will spend several thousand dollars traveling to Africa, paying for accommodation and transportation while he is here. These resources, if used instead of sponsoring or funding projects run by local Africans, would yield much higher returns when used to finance our activities and the acquisition of much needed equipment. Based on a cost-benefit analysis, it is more economical to support local talent than to temporarily bring in foreign talent. Foreigners may also not have as high an incentive as locals to achieve the highest retention levels and to cultivate true Bitcoin communities in these regions of Africa. I don’t mean to talk down anyone’s achievements because I am truly grateful for their work in Africa – but there are mistakes that need to be addressed and addressed.
We also believe we can do it at a much more affordable price. We are better accustomed to the region, the transport networks and other logistical implications that enable us to maximize every penny given to building our communities.
Image source: Author
We have been extremely lucky to bring in three foreign Bitcoin companies – Global Bitcoin Fest, RSK and Money On Chain. We’ve also had the support of two authors: Brian E. De Mint of “Bitcoin Evangelism” and Keysa Luna who wrote “The Simplest Bitcoin Book Ever Written.” Together, they have been able to reduce the cost of educating citizens in many African countries. It is through your generosity that we have been able to fund our previous events. We hope that these people and entities will continue to be there even in our future endeavours.
Image source: Author
The integration
I envision us going from almost zero Bitcoin content creation originating in Zimbabwe and the surrounding regions of South Africa, to dominating most social media platforms and being profitable.
The other source of income will come from hosting three different types of events, all of which are integrated with each other. We believe these could massively create and expand Africa’s Bitcoin market share in Zimbabwe if implemented successfully.
The three events:
- Bitcoin Meetup.
- University On Campus event.
- Bitcoin Bootcamp.
The one key note worth mentioning is that all these events will happen on a reasonably small scale – but they will reach many individuals providing a more efficient and impactful experience of Bitcoin adoption in Zimbabwe and neighboring countries.
The first two types of events will not have an entrance fee for participation and will be fully organized by Proof of Resilience. These are the two types of events for which we seek the most funds. We have a common saying in Africa that goes something like, “You have a better and more attentive audience when their bellies are full.”
Bitcoin Meetup
Image source: Author
This type of event will be an introduction to Bitcoin, RSK, Paxful and the solutions found in the book “Bitcoin Evangelism”, the importance of Bitcoin and how it is disrupting Africa and the world.
Meetup will also serve as a platform and opportunity to register people for our On Campus event and Bitcoin Bootcamp. This event will be free for guests. We hope to reach around 30 people for this type of event. As attendance at this event will be free, the exact number of people confirmed to attend will largely depend on funding received.
University On Campus Event
Image source: Author
Our second event will be at a university. This will be a more in-depth conversation about Bitcoin and will allow us to get into the actual use of the applications built on top of it. We will also go into detail about the sponsoring companies and the books.
This event is estimated to host up to 400 people, definitely a much larger crowd. This will also be another opportunity to register people for the Bitcoin Bootcamp.
Bitcoin Bootcamp
Image source: Author
This will be our longest event. It will be three days at one of Zimbabwe’s famous resorts. It will include a myriad of activities for individuals and couples, and we believe this will bring a more positive relationship and association with Bitcoin to society. This will be the perfect place to create a lot of rich Bitcoin content about. For this event, we intend to actually charge the individuals who attend, but still plan to spread the word about Bitcoin adoption. We believe that if the two previous events leading up to the Bootcamp are well supported and well executed, then this Bootcamp could indeed be a very profitable venture for the leaders of the African Bitcoin community.
A Bootcamp setup may very well turn out to be the best method to educate individuals about Bitcoin in Africa.
Source: Poll by author.
Accelerating hyperbitcoinization
We are mission-driven individuals; we sacrificed time and our own capital before this became profitable. We are still doing several projects that are not profitable, but they accelerate hyperbitcoinization in the world. Our goal is to bring the greatest good to as many people as possible. That’s the metric we use to succeed.
We aim to induce change, promote our culture and to prove the resilience of the next generation in Africa to not only avoid but fix the mistakes of the generation that came before us. We will primarily do this by fixing our money.
While we believe it is important to build an organization that will succeed with ongoing external sponsors, we believe the Bitcoin community provides the resources that will accelerate our growth. We are also under the impression that it will always be difficult to raise capital to finance our mission. So we want to build long-term methods of raising capital while working hard to spread bitcoin adoption.
Image source: Author
This is a guest post by Alexandria. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of BTC Inc Bitcoin Magazine.
