Kassy Olisakwe: Blockchain entrepreneur building applications for businesses

Despite the difficult business environment in Nigeria, entrepreneurs in the technology space have continued to thrive against all odds. They offer innovative solutions to problems.

Among tech startups harnessing the power of technology to provide solutions is Kassy Olisakwe, the founder of Kassy’s Blockchain Agency – a startup that builds blockchain applications for individuals and businesses looking to move into the Web3 space.

Olisakwe, a 22-year-old senior blockchain developer who is also an artificial intelligence (AI) enthusiast and inventor started his business in 2021 and so far his business has grown with over 600 developers working under him from different parts of the world.

“I started freelancing and learning more about technology many years ago. I started scaling it up only in 2021 when I realized I could leverage my services.

“I am still employed myself. I am working remotely in the blockchain space with a company that uses the exact same business model as me, only on a larger scale, says Olisakwe.

Apart from having a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from Duke university and currently studying for his master’s degree in computer science at Arizona State University, he also holds a couple of information technology (IT) certifications such as CCNA & CCNP in Computer Networking, Comptia s+ in Cyber ​​Security, JNCIA cloud under juniper cloud technologies, CBP under blockchain development, machine learning and deep learning professional certification under AI and robotics.

“As an inventor deeply involved in AI and robotics, I am working to create an intelligent robot that understands and can relate to humans at a deep level.”

The young IT guru believes that the blockchain industry is the next big thing as it is the next version of the internet of cryptocurrencies. “We are all familiar with its enormous importance to business.”

Olisakwe noted that when you hear the term “blockchain,” think of it as a storage system that cannot be manipulated and is extremely secure. “Imagine storing business files and smart contracts on it.”

“Today, a lot of waste is generated where a company has to talk to several partner organisations. This involves paperwork, legal agreements, cross-border interaction and trust issues with different versions of a legal problem that arise.

“Now imagine that all of these organizations had a single source of truth that they referenced, enter blockchain, with its guaranteed tamper-proof nature. And with this, many companies would be able to reduce delays, lack of trust, paperwork and so much more, ” he explained.

The Anambra native did not need much capital to start his business as he only used the right smartphone and an internet connection.

“From the money I was paid when I started as a freelancer and with the support of my parents, who understand today’s trends, I was able to scale up with ads on sites like Linkedin, twitter, facebook, etc. So I basically started without a capital.”

Some of the challenges he is facing is the cryptocurrency ban placed by the Central Bank of Nigeria which prevents Nigerian banks from interacting with cryptocurrency payments.

“Most of my clients pay directly with crypto and it has not been easy to navigate that terrain. Then the other common problems like the difficulty of using Nigerian debit cards to pay for foreign services,” Olisakwe lamented.

Also, the high inflationary pressure caused by the Russia-Ukraine war is affecting his business as most of his end-user customers have been affected. “The business isn’t booming eventually, so they won’t see the need to expand.”

Speed ​​and quality are the most important things that stand out in his services from other blockchain companies. According to the retired network security engineer and avid gamer, he not only spreads projects among several people to facilitate completion, but drastically reduces the time it takes to build the solutions or tokens.

“A project that would take an average agency a month to build because of how every process has to pass through everyone for quality assurance would only take me a week to build with better quality because all my developers are working on their different aspects at the same time while I link them together with the technical knowledge, he adds.

Also read: Experts highlight how the Nigerian economy can be transformed with blockchain at the Cardano Blockchain founder hangout in Abuja

In 2020, Olisakwe wrote a book titled ‘The Guide to Artificial Intelligence’. The book is about the creation of super-intelligent thinking machines and how it is possible for computers to be more intelligent than humans.

“I wanted to demonstrate that much more powerful intelligences would later be created just a few decades later. And such ‘genius’ machines will lead to alternatives and possibilities for how humans will coexist with, and prepare for, them.”

Olisakwe believes that AI is absolutely indispensable because the machines are already here, and they will remain long after human extinction.

“Already in the next five years, AI machines will take over 50 percent of the labor market. The way computers came into the picture and slowly took over our lives is exactly the same way that intelligent machines would.

“Tesla has already brought self-driving cars into the limelight, and in the next few years we wouldn’t need human Uber drivers. In China, no physical store has a human cashier, he explains.

“Robots are already being trained in law, journalism, surgery and many other fields where they outperform humans by a mile,” he adds.

In terms of the skills needed to start a blockchain business, Olisakwe says one must have good knowledge of software engineering, deep knowledge of cryptography and smart contracts because they are the backbone of every blockchain application.

He advises other entrepreneurs to start their business early, even though it may not necessarily work at first. “The problems you try to solve before you start will always keep growing. No one ever feels ready if you are not sure of your direction; find a mentor in that area.”

One of the life values ​​that have made him who he is today is wisdom, which is often underestimated in its importance.

“Wisdom is very often confused with words like knowledge or intelligence, but the word wisdom is defined as the quality of having experience and good judgment and the resulting soundness of that action or decision.”

In the next five years, he hopes to have his Artificial General Intelligent robot, which he is currently developing, be in different parts of the world by 2027. “I see my blockchain business growing with the gradual expansion of interest from the general public.”

He also sees himself celebrating a couple of technological patents, most of which will help land him a spot on the Forbes list. For more information on his services, he can be reached through his company email address at www.kassyolisakwe.com.